


Hothouse

by lovealways21



Category: Twilight (Movies), Twilight Series - All Media Types, Twilight Series - Stephenie Meyer
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-08-23
Updated: 2017-06-03
Packaged: 2017-12-24 10:56:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 20
Words: 60,441
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/939156
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lovealways21/pseuds/lovealways21
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Isabella "Bella" McCarty never expected that she'd ever cross paths with her brother's biggest rival, Jacob Black. But, after a wrong turn one night that's exactly what happens. As if that's not bad enough, she quickly finds herself as the object of his affection. She's set on ignoring his advances. But, she soon finds that saying no to him is neither a smart nor safe option. AH</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Preface

**Author's Note:**

> Alright, so here's the deal with this story. I originally wrote this story years ago as a BTR fic, but I no longer have the drive to write it as a BTR fic and I also don't remember the password or anything for my old account anyways. So, therefore, I'm fixing it up and making it into a Jacob/Bella fanfic so that I can actually finish it.
> 
> Oh, and another thing this is a lot different than most JB stories I've read before...actually, I don't think I've ever read a Jacob/Bella fic based on what this will be. So, this will be way different than what you're use to...I'm sure..
> 
> So, if any of this sounds interesting to you, then please do give it a try.
> 
> Warning: gangs, language, violence and some lemons/limes throughout the story (Turn back now if you're offended by any of those mentioned.)
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Twilight. I only own the plot...sort of.

Both boys had their knives pulled on each other. At any moment all hell was sure to break lose. It wasn't hard for someone on the outside to tell that anger was [running](http://www.fanfiction.net/s/9622108/1/Hothouse) through them both at the speed of light. This moment wasn't surprising because everyone knew that it was bound to happen sooner or later. Two gangs fighting over one city was nothing more than an accident just waiting to happen.

I, Isabella "Bella" McCarty, stood to the side of the dark alley, pressed up against the cold, brick wall, watching as my older brother, Emmett, and secret lover, as I myself considered him, Jacob Black, stared each other down with daggers in their eyes. I couldn't stop the feeling of guilt that coursed through my veins like a drug. It was all my fault that this was happening when it was.

All I had wanted to do, originally, was prove to everyone a point. Mainly Emmett. That point being that I wasn't a kid anymore. I had been fed up with everyone treating me like I didn't know what was going on around me, when in reality I knew exactly what was going on. I might [play](http://www.fanfiction.net/s/9622108/1/Hothouse) the fool at times, but I am truly far from one.

Originally, when the idea of playing Emmett and Jacob against each other, more than they already were, came to me I only wanted the two of them to hate each other enough that Emmett would get off my case about everything. Not once had I ever thought of the consequences that I might have to face if my plan went well. But, now that I found myself face to face with said consequences, I was wishing nothing more than to be able to erase and rewind time.

"Damn it, Bella! You just didn't know when to stop, did you?" I scolded myself, biting down on my lower lip just hard enough to draw blood. The iron taste hit my tongue causing me to frown in disgust, and I let my bottom lip slip from it's place in between my teeth. "This is all your fault," I continued my inner battle with myself as I fixed my skirt, which was a bit messed up seeing as if Emmett had caught me and Jacob in a rather compromising position only minutes before. To say that I was a bit more embarrassed than freaked out right now would be an understatement.

Just then the sound of my brother's anger filled voice brought me back to reality. "You think you can just fuck my sister, and get away with it!" Emmett hissed through clenched teeth.

I swallowed the newly formed lump that was in my throat with a loud gulp. I hadn't seen or heard him that mad since when I was 15 and I was attacked by a guy who Emmett had thought was a good friend of his. Ever since then, Emmett was beyond over protective of me, and treated me like I was still a kid. I knew he meant well, but all I ever wanted was to live my own life.

As for Jacob, I was afraid of what he'd say to Emmett in return. I never told Jacob that Emmett was my brother. Just as I never told Emmett that I knew who Jacob was. I had been doing so well keeping the two of them from knowing about my relationship to the other. But, as the saying goes all good things must come to an end sometime, and this just so happened to be my good sometime.

"Your sister?" Jacob asked with a smirk. "That just makes this all that much better," he smirked mischievously just to get a rise out of Emmett.

"I'll kill you!" Emmett threatened, pressing the knife in his hand violently into Jacob's throat, but not hard enough to create a puncture wound.

Jacob copied Emmett's actions on him. "Bella never mentioned she was your sister," Jacob said regardless of the fact that a knife was just a slight added pressure away from cutting into his skin.

At that moment, anger towards each other was momentarily forgotten, and I suddenly felt two sets of eyes on me. To say I might be screwed would be another understatement right now.


	2. Chapter 1 - Good Girl Meets Bad Boy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two things before you read this chapter;
> 
> 1.) Bella is dating Edward in the beginning...but, don't worry this is and will end up being Jacob/Bella.
> 
> 2.) I was originally going to change the setting of the story to Port Angeles, but instead I'm keeping it as Miami. That way I don't have to change a lot of the story details which are important to the story.
> 
> 3.) Occasionally, there will be POV changes throughout the story. I know a lot of people aren't a fan of them during chapters, but it's necessary for certain aspects of this story. So, just please bare with me...and, I promise it won't be difficult to tell the changes, though. So, no need to worry about that.
> 
> Alright, now that those three things are covered...onto chapter 1! I hope you enjoy!
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Twilight. I only own the plot...sort of.

_About a month or so earlier..._

From the minute we began walking down the deserted back sidewalk of town, I had an uneasy feeling. I along with my boyfriend, Edward Cullen, had lost track of time, and stayed out too late. As a result, not wanting to get into that much trouble with my brother for not being home when I said I would be, I saw a short cut and talked Edward into taking it with me.

Given our current predicament, though, that doesn't seem like it was such a good idea after all.

We were officially on unfamiliar territory.

Everyone knows that Miami is separated into two sides; North and South. The north side of Miami was run by my older twin brother, Emmett, who couldn't be any more different from me. And, the south side was run by Emmett's biggest rival, Jacob Black.

Therefore, anyone associated with one of them wasn't allowed on the other's territory. Severe consequences were sure to be suffered by anyone caught in a territory they didn't belong in. Everyone in Miami knew exactly where they stood. However, if they didn't...well then, obviously they would suffer for it.

I had realized too late that the short cut I found had led Edward and I straight through the south side of town, better known as Jacob Black's territory. It's not like I had anything to worry about, though. Jacob had no idea who I was nor did he know that Emmett even had a sister in the first place. Therefore, I wasn't in any danger...right? Wrong! He may not know who I was, but he did sure as hell knew who Edward was. Not surprisingly, that put me in harms way just as much as it did Edward.

Edward was one of my brother's closest friends, as well as secret partner in crime. Usually, I would never have even given one of Emmett's friends the time of day and date one of them because most likely they're just as sick and twisted as he is, but Edward was different. Or at least I was under the impression that he was. I wasn't one hundred percent sure, but I was thoughtful enough to give him the benefit of the doubt. Besides, Emmett mainly only used Edward to do his inside work. Edward was merely Emmett's spy.

Edward's main job was to watch Emmett's rival, Jacob Black, and his gang whenever Emmett was suspicious of something that Jacob was up to, and report back to him with the information he came across. As far as I was concerned, Edward had not once helped with any of Emmett's dirty work, so I was okay with dating him. Not to mention the fact that Edward was never the type to mix his business life with his personal life. Or at least that's how he perceived himself. So just to be on the safe side, I do indeed keep an eye on him.

Unfortunately, though, one time when Emmett sent Edward to spy on Jacob and his gang, he got caught. If only he had been hiding a foot away from where he was at the time he wouldn't have been beaten half to death. Edward apparently wasn't paying attention that night, and he was a foot on the south side territory. That foot was what had gotten him severely beaten, and left just inches away from dead at the boundary line that divided the North and South sides of town.

After that had happened I had sworn to myself that I was to always be very careful. Jacob had no idea that Emmett even had a spy before that night. So, somehow he had to of found out that Edward was a spy for Emmett. Therefore, I always had a slight fear that he'd find out I was Emmett's sister. I didn't even want to know what would happen if Jacob did find out that Emmett had a sister. God only knows what Jacob would do. For all I knew he'd use me to get to my brother. And, although, Emmett annoys and babies me all the time, I could never do anything that would help hurt him, period.

I always felt that at any moment that's exactly what could happen. I never wanted anything to do with Emmett's lifestyle, though. The last thing I ever wanted was to end up like my brother. He was currently on a path of self destruction that would kill him if he didn't come to his senses soon and change his ways for the better. I feared for his life day in and day out, and yet no matter how much I voiced my fear to him, Emmett's need for power always won in the end.

I was brought back to reality when I felt Edward squeeze my hand tightly. I looked over at him, and was about to tell him to loosen his grip, but before I could he motioned his head in front of him. For some reason before I even turned to look shivers ran up and down my spine. The shivers up and down my spine caused me to really slowly turn my head to see who or what Edward was motioning to.

"Oh shit!" I found myself exclaiming a little too loud.

I quickly took my free hand and smacked it over my mouth, not that it would do anything. I already exclaimed out loud. There was no taking that back now, whether I wished I could or not. My eyes were as wide as saucers and I was biting down on my bottom lip hard enough to draw blood...blood that I was never the biggest fan of. Even if it was my own.

Standing about eight feet in front of me and Edward was none other than my biggest fear at this current moment in time, Jacob Black, To make matters even worse...he wasn't alone. With him were three of his right hand men. If I remembered correctly they were Embry Call, Quil Ateara V, and Seth Clearwater. They might not be as brutal as Jacob, but they were damn near close to it. And, as if knowing what they were like wasn't scary on it's own, they were all built like machines.

"Well, well, well! Look who we have here boys," Jacob's dark, husky, threatening voice rang through my ears.

"Some  _boys_ just never learn," the lightest skinned one of the four of them, Quil chuckled, emphasizing the word  _boys_.

"Maybe another beat down will teach him," Embry, the one to Jacob's right, suggested with an evil smirk.

"We wouldn't want to scare the girl, though," Seth, the smallest of the guys, but not to be taken for granted by any means because he was just as ruthless as the rest of them from what I'd heard, grinned being the first one to take notice of my presence.

I felt more shivers race up and down my spine as I felt all four of their gazes on me in an instant. It didn't take a genius to know that they were eyeing me up and down. Of all the times I had to stupidly suggest a stupid short cut that unknowingly led through the south side of town, it just had to be tonight. The night that Jacob and his three right hand men were walking around checking out their territory, didn't it? It was just my luck. Well, and Edward's, too.

"Didn't you learn your lesson last time you were on my territory?" Jacob asked now looking directly at Edward.

Edward opened his mouth to speak, but I beat him to it. "It's my fault he's on your territory again," I blurted out.

What?

It was the truth.

Jacob's attention instantly turned back to me again.

I harshly swallowed the lump that had now formed in my throat. "It's really my fault," I repeated.

"How so?" he asked, taking a few steps forward until he was only inches away from me.

I had the urge to take a step back, but I managed to force myself to stay still as to not clearly show of the fear I was currently feeling brought on by him being so close to me right now.

I took a deep breath before answering, "I'm late getting home, and I convinced him to take this short cut not even thinking that it would take us through your territory. He honestly had nothing to do with us being here." Then added, as convincingly as possible, "It was all me. Really."

"Is that so?" he asked his face now even closer to mine.

I nodded my head. "Yes that's so," I answered in a matter-of-fact tone.

Jacob suddenly turned towards Edward and took a couple of steps over to him. Getting right up in his face he threatened, "If I see you on my territory ever again..." he paused looking over at me, whose gaze Edward followed, and then back to Edward. "Whether she's with you or not," he continued. "I will finish what I started last time, and I don't give a damn what your excuse is. Do you understand?" he asked in a threatening, no nonsense tone.

Edward nodded his head frantically.

I could tell by the way his grip tightened even more on my hand that he was pissed off. Not because of him being threatened, but because Jacob had gotten as close to me as he did. Just like my brother, Edward was quite protective of me. But, obviously he couldn't do anything about his anger right now. A four on one fight would never end well for him. Therefore, it was best that he just sucked it up, and dealt with it.

Jacob took a few steps back and crossed his arms over his extremely fit chest. "You two have thirty seconds to get the hell out of my sight, and you have five minutes to get off of my territory," he informed, Edward and I, his eyes black as coal.

I was shocked that he was letting us go seeing as if he was never that...that nice? I don't even know if that's the word to really use. I mean, what the hell? But, I wasn't going to question it for long.

"Leave now!" Jacob ordered the anger in his voice very clear.

I suddenly felt a hard tug on my hand, and before I knew it Edward was making a run for it dragging me behind him. It took me only a moment to get my footing straight, and catch up to him.

"Why'd you let them go?" I heard Embry, Quil, and Seth all ask Jacob as Edward and I got farther and farther away from them.

"Hello, earth to Jacob!"

After hearing that be said, not being able to help myself, I turned my head, and looked behind me. I was shocked to find that Jacob was still looking after us. Our eyes met in an intense stare just before Edward and I turned the corner. Then just like that I could no longer see him.

**~Jacob's POV~**

"Why'd you let them go?" Embry, Quil, and Seth all asked me.

I ignored them continuing to watch that pale face punk and the girl run off.

"Hello, earth to Jacob!"

I was about to turn and respond when the girl suddenly looked back. Our eyes met in an intense stare just before they rounded the corner and disappeared into the night.

"What the hell, Jacob?" Embry hissed, pushing at me.

I turned to glare at him.

"Why'd you let them leave?" he insisted on an answer.

Quite frankly, I didn't have one. I was never the type to just let someone leave like that. It angered me that I had allowed it to happen. But, there was just something about that girl that had me curious enough to not leave such a bad first impression. I couldn't explain it, and honestly, I wasn't sure if I wanted to. But, I wouldn't know unless I came across her again. I just needed a reason to go to the North side that was more than a just because I wanted to.

"Go make sure they're over the boundary line in exactly five minutes. No time after," I ordered, not wanting to deal with their questions right now.

I knew that they all wanted to question me further, but they knew better than that. An order was an order.

After they left just as I was turning to walk the opposite way as them, I heard what sounded like music playing. Following the sound of the music I came across something laying on the ground, lighting up. I picked whatever it was up and realized that it was a cellphone.

Curiously, I pushed a button on it to light it up. I couldn't stop the smirk that formed on my face when a picture of the girl from moments before and another girl showed up on the screen. Now I actually had a good reason to show up on the North side. Not that I really needed a reason.

**~Bella's POV~**

Less than five minutes later, Edward and I ran over the boundary line into the north territory. Only now did Edward finally let go of my hand. I shook my hand anxiously wanting to get the blood flowing through it properly again. He damn near took off my hand with how hard he had been clinging to it. My god. What the hell was his problem? I mean, other than our run in with Jacob Black and his main gang.

"What the hell, Edward? Were you trying to turn me into a one handed person?!" I asked frustrated by everything that had happened in the past ten minutes or so.

"Your short cut almost got me killed!" he yelled turning around quickly to face me.

And, I was suddenly mad just like that.

"Oh, don't you go yelling at me!" I hissed right back. "You didn't have to take the short cut with me!" I exclaimed rolling my eyes at his "cry me a freaking river" talk.

"Seriously, Bella? Did you really think I was going to have you walking down a deserted street by yourself this late at night?" Edward asked in a "how stupid do you think I am" tone of voice.

"We wouldn't be having this stupid fight if you wouldn't have come with me!" I shot back at him. "My goodness! You're such a dumb ass sometimes!" I snapped at him before turning away from him and proceeding to stomp off.

Watching me storm away, Edward called after me, "Where do you think you're going, Bella?"

"HOME!" I yelled back at the top of my lungs.

Knowing fully well that I needed time to cool down, Edward called after me, "At least call me when you get home!"

I rolled her eyes. "Yeah, sure," I muttered to myself feeling in my pocket for my cellphone. "Fuck!" I yelled at the top of my lungs when I realized my cellphone wasn't there.

I must have dropped it when Edward and I were running away. Great! Just fucking great! Now Jacob would know exactly who I was. Or maybe he didn't find it. I continued walking and decided that I'd just sneak back there tomorrow during the day sometime, and hope and pray that Jacob hadn't found it.

If only I'd been paying more attention I would have noticed the three sets of eyes watching my every move. Little did I know yet, I was soon going to find myself becoming the object of a very feared gang leader's affection.

As some would say...

Fuck my life!


	3. Chapter 2 - Keeping Secrets and Telling Lies

It was about 12:15 a.m. when I finally walked through the door of my three bedroom beach side apartment that I shared with my best friend, Alice, and on certain nights, Emmett. Unfortunately for me, tonight just so happened to be one of the nights that Emmett was staying over. I wasn't in any mood to explain to Emmett why I was late or even why I hadn't called to tell him that I'd be home late. But, of course, I knew that I didn't really have a choice in that matter. He would demand I tell him whether I wanted to or not. But, it wouldn't stop me from trying to lie to him.

"Hold on a second. Bella just walked in the door," I heard Emmett say as soon as I had closed and locked the door.

"Where the hell have you been?" Emmett's voice boomed throughout the apartment.

I whirled around quickly to find Emmett standing on the other side of the counter that divided the kitchen and the foyer, holding his cell phone to his chest.

Not only did his voice reveal his anger, but the look on his face did as well. I stood there saying nothing for a moment wondering if maybe Emmett had called Edward and already knew about what had happened. Since I wasn't quite sure I decided I might as well tell him the truth. Just not the whole truth.

"Edward and I got into a stupid fight. I was just walking around to clear my head a bit," I confessed, telling him only half of the truth and choosing my words wisely, as I walked through the foyer door and rounded the corner, so that I was now standing in the kitchen facing Emmett.

I didn't want to tell him about Edward and I's encounter with Jacob if I didn't absolutely have to. If Emmett hadn't heard it from Edward already, then he sure as hell wasn't going to hear it from me.

"What was the fight about?" Emmett asked quickly sensing that I wasn't exactly telling him everything.

I shrugged my shoulders while picking up my dog's water bowl and walking over to the sink to fill it. "I honestly don't know. It was just a spur of the moment fight, I guess," I lied straight through my teeth while occupying myself with the dog bowl, so that I wouldn't turn to look at him.

I could feel his hardened, doubtful gaze on me.

Emmett still wasn't buying it. He was the leader of the north side gang, after all. So it didn't take a genius to realize that Emmett had excellent skills when it came to picking out liars from a crowd and such. Since he still didn't believe me, he continued probing, "Where's your cell phone? I called you at least seven times if not more and not once did you answer it. You always pick up when I call no matter what's going on."

My eyes suddenly widened and I had to force my jaw not to drop and give myself away, without a doubt. Oh no! He called my cell phone? What if Jacob really had found my phone after hearing the phone ring? By now, he'd definitely know who I was. He would know that I was Emmett's sister. And, if that were in fact the case, then, I was so obviously screwed.

"Umm...what phone did you call from?" I asked nervously biting my lower lip still not making eye contact with him as I walked over and placed the dog bowl back in its place on the floor.

"The apartment phone," he answered with a raised eyebrow.

I sighed a huge silent sigh of relief, now feeling that it was okay to look at him.

"Oh, ok. I must have dropped it when I stormed away from Edward earlier after our fight. I'll go and look for it when I wake up later," I said answering his question from a few moments ago. "Well, I'm off to bed. It's been a really long night for me," I excused myself turning and running to my room before Emmett even had the chance to say another word.

Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!

This isn't good!

No, not good at all!

**~Emmett's POV~**

I watched as Bella ran to her room and shook my head. I would never be able to completely understand her even if I tried my hardest to. However, I did understand and know her enough to know that she wasn't telling me everything. There was something she either was afraid for me to know or that she just simply didn't want to talk about, period.

The fact that she kept her head turned away from me the entire time we were talking was proof enough of that. The only times she didn't look at me when we were talking was when she didn't want me to see her reactions to what I was saying. As much as she tried to, she was a facial expression reactor. She never was able to keep the anger or hurt or whatever else off of her face whenever something was brought up.

Her poker face was just nonexistent.

Not only that, but up until recently, we had been close to the point of not being able to be separated. We both knew each other better than anyone else. Of course, we didn't get along all the time...mainly because Bella wasn't too fond of my lifestyle, but we still knew when something was up with the other.

I made a note to myself to make sure that I found out whatever she was hiding from me.

No matter what it took.

No matter what the result of finding out would be.

Then, I returned to my phone call.

**~Bella's POV~**

I quickly slammed my bedroom door shut and locked it.

I really needed to get my cell phone back

_**As. Soon. As. Possible.** _

Turning my head to my balcony door, I looked straight across to Alice's door and noticed that the lights were on in her room. I suddenly had the idea that maybe I could talk Alice into going with my later to look for my phone. I really didn't want to have to go back there alone. Even if it would be during the day.

Not wanting Emmett to see me, I threw open the balcony door and bolted across to the door on the other side that led into Alice's room. I hoped and prayed that the door would be unlocked. Twisting the door knob, I was relieved to find that Alice had, in fact, left the door unlocked after she last used it.

"Alice!" I exclaimed, whispering as I entered the room closing the door behind me quietly.

"Bella what are you..." Alice started to ask loudly, turning to look at me.

I was quick to cut her off. "Shhh! I don't want Emmett to know that I am in here," I told her sitting down on the edge of her bed.

Alice could tell by the look on my face that something was a bit off about me.

"Are you alright, Bella?" she asked, in a concerned tone of voice, as she took a seat next to me.

I looked over at Alice and confessed to her, "Edward and I had a run in with Jacob Black and a few members of his gang earlier."

Alice's eyes widened in shock, and she instantly leaped off of the bed.

"What? No way!" she exclaimed in a whisper.

"Neither of us got hurt, but it was my fault since I'm the one who suggested and convinced Edward to take a short cut, in the first place. The shortcut that, unbeknownst to both of us, took us straight through the south side of town. Then, Edward and I got into a stupid fight after Jacob let us go, which was weird, but, yeah, and now here I am explaining it all to you," I explained bluntly giving away as very little details as I could while still explaining just about everything. "Oh, and I dropped my cell phone when we were running away after Jacob ordered us to leave," I added.

"And?" Alice asked, raising a knowing eyebrow at me.

She knew me quite well.

"And...I was wondering if you'd go with me during the day to look for it," I smiled briefly with a hint of hope in my voice before putting on a fake puppy dog face that I knew would end up getting to her in the end.

"Seriously, Bella?" Alice frowned at me. "You want me to to go to the south side just to help you look for your phone?" Alice wondered as she paced, nervously, back and forth in front of me and her bed. There was a slight trace of fear in her voice.

"Come on, Alice! I need to get my cell phone back as soon as possible! If Jacob found my phone it's only a matter of time before he finds out that I'm Emmett's sister," I said now feeling the same nervousness and fear that Alice was. "I can't let that happen!" I told her in a frantic tone.

Alice turned her head and gave me a "sorry, but not gonna happen" look.

I sighed.

This was harder than I thought it would be.

"Do I have to beg you, Alice?" I asked, rolling my eyes at the idea of even thinking about it.

Alice didn't answer, instead she just continued giving her the "sorry, but not gonna happen" look.

"Please, Ali," I said in a simple voice.

Alice raised an eyebrow, stopped pacing, and turned to frown at me.

I shrugged my shoulders and reminded her in a matter of fact tone, "You've known me long enough to know that that's how I beg, Alice."

I never really was much of a beggar. It just wasn't me. Maybe it was because I was so use to doing everything for myself and never asking for help unless I absolutely had no choice but to do so.

Alice shook her head in sudden defeat. "Fine, but if something happens..."

I cut her off. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. You'll kick my as." I rolled my eyes. "Or at least you'll try," I laughed as I stood up and pulled Alice into a quick hug. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," she replied in a reluctant tone.

"I owe you one," I told her as I pulled away and turned around, walking over to the balcony door.

"You sure do," Alice agreed.

"So, we'll leave here around say...2:00ish. That way we can both sleep in until 1:00ish," I smiled at her.

"Okay," Alice briefly returned my smile along with a nod of her head.

"Alright," I said before walking out and closing the door behind me.

**~Alice's POV~**

Was Bella out of her ever loving mind?

I mean, she had to be right? 'Cause if she was in her right mind she wouldn't be going to retrieve her phone alone. Well, okay, not alone. I was going with. But, still.

Two girls going onto enemy territory unprotected? Bella had to be crazy.

Better yet, I had to be crazy. What the hell was I thinking agreeing to go with Bella? Oh, that's right. I was being a good friend. Although, I kind of wished that I was less of a good friend and had said no.

I mean, what if we ended up getting killed or something? I wasn't in the mood to die anytime soon. Especially dying when I knew it was a possibility. I didn't like the whole knowing you're going to die thing. I'd rather it just come out of left field. That way I wouldn't have time to fret over it.

My ever loving God!

I really didn't have a good feeling about this.

But, I wasn't going to let Bella go alone.

This was not good.

Not good at all.

But, what the hell was I suppose to do.

Bella was dead set on getting her phone back while making sure Emmett knew absolutely nothing about this.

I really had no other choice but to go along with it.

Damn it!

What was I thinking still wanting to be friends with Bella even after finding out about Emmett being her brother?

Clearly, I was the one out of my mind long before Bella ever thought about losing hers.

**~Bella's POV~**

Alice and I left the apartment at around 1:50 that afternoon. All I wanted to do was quickly find my cell phone and then run for the hills, basically. Once I had my phone and Alice and I were back on the north side of the boundary line we'd be in our safe zone, and we could both finally chill out and relax again. Even though, Alice was freaking out because of me.

But, once we were safe and sound, I'm sure she'd relax again, too. And, I'd do my best to make sure that nothing like this ever happened to me again. No more short cuts for me. I'd take the long way from now on. And, I'd deal with Emmett's anger or whatever when the time came. Anything to make sure that I never ran into Jacob Black again.

"Are you sure that this is where you dropped it at, Bella?" Alice asked me, pushing a loose strand of her short dark brown hair out of her face.

"I'm pretty sure it is. Yes," I answered nodding my head.

Alice sighed, frustrated. "Well, I don't see it anywhere," she huffed quickly running out of patience.

Patience had never really been a strong suit for her.

"It has to be!" I exclaimed, standing up straight and placing my hands on my hips. "I didn't hear it fall out of my pocket when Edward and I were running so it has to be around here somewhere."

"Well, guess what?" she asked, annoyed. "It's not here!" Alice exclaimed, already beyond freaked out about being even a foot south of the boundary line rather than in the area of the safe north side. "Can we just go?" she asked, practically begging me. "I'm sure it'll turn up somewhere else."

I opened my mouth to protest, but someone beat me to the punch.

"Looking for this?" a very recognizable voice asked from behind us.

My throat instantly dried up and I tried not to panic, which for me was actually not that hard. I focused on the task at hand. I wanted my phone back. Screw fear. I pushed it aside quickly and made sure to keep it to the side.

One look over at Alice and I realized she was going through the same things that I was. Except, unlike me, she couldn't handle the fear, and the look in her eyes proved that she was freaking the fuck out on the inside. I felt guilty because this wouldn't be happening if I hadn't convinced her to come with me.

But, it was too late now.

And, I needed to focus on the task at hand.

So, I pushed the guilt to the side as well.

Both, Alice and I, spun around to find none other than Jacob Black, himself, standing there. Though, this time instead of just his three right hand guys he had his whole gang with him. Talk about a weird case of sort of de ja vu. Alice and I looked at each other and then to Jacob and then to the black and purple phone that he was holding in his hand.

Damn it!

Of course, it was just my luck that he had, in fact, found my phone.

Just fuck my life!

Kill me now, please!

"I can't believe I let you talk me into coming here with you," Alice whispered to me without taking her eyes off of the guys standing in front of us. "I just knew that something like this would end up happening," she added muttering angrily under her breath.

I rolled her eyes and ignored my best friend. "Yeah, that's what I'm looking for," I nodded, answering Jacob's question from before as I took a step forward, ready to take it from him.

Even though Jacob's whole gang was with him, after pushing my before fear to the side, I no longer felt even the least bit fearful. All I really cared about right now was getting my cell phone back and getting the hell up out of there. That way I could quickly go ahead and move on with my life without having to worry about Jacob finding out who I really was. Too bad for me, I just hadn't realized yet just how much that really wasn't a possibility anymore.

Jacob and I locked eyes as I reached out and grabbed my cell phone from him. Just as they had earlier, when my face had been only inches apart from Jacob's, shivers ran up and down my spine as Jacob and I's hands lightly touched. Freaked out by the shivers, I quickly snatched my hand away and dropped it to mu side, clutching my cell phone so tight that I was surprised I didn't break the screen or something.

"What's your name?" Jacob asked, all of a sudden, breaking the awkward silence.

I looked at up at him with a shocked and confused expression. "I assumed you would've gotten that info from my phone already," I said before I could stop myself.

"Open mouth, insert foot," Alice fake coughed from behind me.

I turned my head to momentarily glare at my friend for a quick second before turning back to make eye contact, not on purpose, with Jacob again.

"What makes you think I looked through your phone?" Jacob asked raising an eyebrow out of curiosity.

"What wouldn't make me think that?" I countered with my own question.

He stayed silent for a moment.

"Fair enough," he finally said not once giving up the smirk that was on his face. "But, I'll ask you one more time, anyways. What's...your...name?" he asked slowly, leaving space between each word of the question.

"Bella," I answered simply, finding no more reasons to hold off on the inevitable for any longer. He'd find out my name one way or another, so I might as well tell him now and get it over with.

"Nice name," Jacob said, making me roll my eyes, while he eyed me up and down just like he had during our first run in.

I gulped as I watched his eyes roam over my body.

The first time he had seen me, I had been wearing a simple pair of my favorite comfy jeans and a loose fitting blouse that had shown off very little of my figure.

This time, however, I was wearing a tight white tank top that fit my figure snugly. I was also wearing a pair of black jean shorts that showed off my perfectly tan and great legs, as Alice always complained to me about. She always complained that due to my daily workouts, my legs were the best legs she'd ever seen. I always laughed it off and rolled my eyes at her.

I guess, I kind of agree, though, especially when compared to the rest of my body. My legs were slightly tanner than the top half of my body because whenever I went to the beach my upper half was always under the umbrella while my legs were getting some sun. My outfit was finished off with a pair of black wedged sandals that showed off my legs just as well as the shorts did.

Not to mention it was dark then and it's light now.

Therefore, I was much more self conscious now than I was earlier.

**~Jacob's POV~**

Once again standing so close to her, who I now knew as Bella, I couldn't help myself as I stepped back and let my eyes roam her body. Earlier, I hadn't gotten as good of a view. She had been covered up then. But, this time...this time I got to see a lot more. And, I definitely liked what I was seeing.

I was always use to always getting what I wanted, and now it was obvious that I wanted Bella. But, there was a slight problem with that. For some reason, things were different than usual. Usually when I wanted a girl, I had her at that same exact moment. But, now with Bella, I just couldn't bring himself to do that to her. I couldn't handle the thought of making her just another random notch on my belt.

It confused the hell out of me. I wasn't acting at all like myself right now. My change had been abrupt and it had started from the moment I first set my sight on Bella earlier this morning. I didn't know what it was about her exactly that made me want to be different with her, but I'd make damn sure that I'd find out, and then after I knew what it was I'd move in for the kill, so to speak.

I frowned when I was abruptly interrupted from my thoughts by the voice of the girl that was with Bella.

"Bella, you have your cell phone now. Can we go?" she asked as she anxiously tapped her foot on the ground.

I couldn't stop the small smirk that took over when I picked up on the slight fear in her voice.

Before Bella could say anything back, one of my guys came running into the alley. "Emmett is at the boundary line demanding to speak to you...now," he told me.

I growled at the sound of my biggest rivals name.

**~Bella's POV~**

Any and everything else was instantly forgotten.

"Oh fuck!" I thought to myself.

My nerves quickly began to take over as soon as I had heard my brother's name. How in the hell was I going to get past him without getting caught? I don't know, but I needed to think fast.

"And, that's our cue to leave. Now," I said quickly turning around, grabbing Alice's hand and running out of the alley, dragging her behind me.

I decided, without a second thought, that the only way to have Emmett not find out that I was here and wondering just what the hell I was doing south of the boundary line was to make it back to the north side before Jacob and his gang met up with Emmett and his gang. That would ensure that he still wouldn't learn about either of my run in's with Jacob. It also ensured that Jacob wouldn't learn anytime soon that I was Emmett's sister.

There was one problem with my plan, though. Alice and I had to go through my brother somehow to get back over the boundary line.

"Why are we running?" Alice asked breaking her hand free from my tight grasp.

"I'm dead if either Emmett or Jacob find out the secrets I'm keeping from them. You fill in the rest!" I exclaimed looking behind me to make sure that no one was coming after us.

I just couldn't believe everything that had happened to me in less than 12 hours. If someone would've told me a few days ago that I'd be running to save my ass right about now, I would've laughed and called them crazy. Never in my life had I ever done something like this before.

And, as much as I hated to admit it, I had a bad feeling that I was now a lot more involved in the war between Emmett and Jacob's gangs than I had ever wanted to.

The worst part of it all...

I was the only one who currently knew it.


	4. Chapter 3 - Let the Obsession Begin

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Get ready and know ahead of time that this is only the beginning. Bad gang leader Jacob will make an appearance, but this isn't him at his worst just yet. That'll come a little later. But, still brace yourself! This chapter is going to be a good one! Trust me! ;)
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Twilight. I only own the plot...sort of.

The next few days had me completely on edge. Edward and I hadn't spoken to each other at all since our stupid, ridiculous fight. I don't know if he was avoiding me. Or if Emmett had him doing some things for him. It was probably the former, though, because Edward always called or got into contact with me somehow even when he was doing something for Emmett. So, more thank likely he was definitely avoiding me for whatever unknown reason.

To make matters even worse, in my spare time, I always seemed to find myself, strangely, not being able to get, the one and only, Jacob Black out of my head. I had absolutely no idea why, but it seemed as if he was now always the first thing I thought about when I woke up in the morning and the very last thing I thought about before I fell asleep at night. I, one hundred and ten percent, hated the fact that I barely knew him, other than based on his reputation, and he was already lodged into my mind like a nail in wood.

I did any and everything I could think of in my power not to think about Jacob. Yet, nothing I did to distract myself worked out for more than a few minutes at a time. It got to the point where I was seriously contemplating just breaking down and telling Emmett the truth about everything that happened in the past few days. I knew fully well that if anything could distract me, in the long run, it would be getting yelled at by my overly pissed off brother. But, I always ended up talking myself out of it because I was content on wanting to keep whatever sanity I had left in me.

This morning started no different than the past two mornings. I woke up from an extremely confusing dream that had involved "him" as I now called him in hopes that not thinking of his actual name would actually do the trick of erasing him from my mind completely. I knew how stupid and pointless it was. But, it still gave me a slight piece of mind. So, therefore, whether it worked or not, I was going to go for it. Anything working slightly was better than nothing working at all. Right?

After getting dressed in my jogging clothes, I made my way out to the kitchen to make myself some breakfast, or better yet brunch since, as always, I had woken up a little past noon. After eating my brunch, I put my bowl and spoon into the sink, changed my dogs water dish, gave him some food, and then I was out the door.

Everything went according to schedule until I ran into Emmett in the hall as I was getting ready to walk down the next flight of stairs to go take my afternoon "wake me up" jog along the ocean front. As soon as I saw Emmett's face I knew something was going on. And, not something good. His facial expression was set in an angry expression. I had seen that expression way too many times before in the past two years, and I just about instantly realized that it had something to do with Edward.

"What's wrong, Emmett?" I asked stopping dead in my tracks already knowing part of the answer.

"Have you heard from Edward lately?" he asked looking me dead in my eyes.

I shook her my head no and forced myself to keep breathing. Something was wrong. Something was very wrong.

"Not since we had our fight a few nights ago," I answered truthfully. "Why?" I questioned, nervously, as I raised an eyebrow at him.

"No one has seen or heard from him since about 4:00 yesterday evening," Emmett informed me, clenching his fists tightly at his side. "I've called him, Spinner and Alec have called him...everyone has tried to call him," Emmett sighed, frustrated. "But, he hasn't answered a single call, and usually he answers at least one of our calls."

"Hmm...well, that's definitely weird. That's not like him at all. The only time he's ever not been heard from or seen before was when..." I paused before finishing my sentence when I realized what I was getting ready to say. My eyes widened and my jaw dropped to the floor. "No...you don't think..." I started to ask.

Emmett cut me off, and spoke in a sarcastic tone, "What I don't think that Jacob Black somehow got his hands on Edward again and is keeping him only god knows where and is only doing god knows what to him?"

I crossed my arms and glared at him.

Out of all the times to be sarcastic, this most definitely was not one of them.

"Because if that's what you were about to ask...yes, yes I do think that that's what has happened," Emmett snapped, turning and punching the wall behind him causing me to jump in surprise.

Oh, great! The landlord would definitely have something to say about that one. I really hope their aren't any cameras around here right now.

I bit my bottom lip, nervously, hoping that Emmett didn't pick up on it. And, judging by him still staring at the hole he just made in the wall, I'd say I was in the clear. I knew deep down inside that Jacob had something to do with Edward's sudden disappearance. I just knew it. Everything in my being was screaming, "Jacob! Jacob! Jacob! It's him. He has Edward. There's no doubt about it."

"Umm...well, after my run, I'll try and call him. Maybe he'll answer my call," I shrugged trying to sound as calm as possible, not allowing my guard to fall down and reveal anything to Emmett.

Emmett calmed down just slightly as he turned back to look at me. "Yeah, you let me know as soon as you get a hold on him if you do," he said sternly looking me straight in my eyes again. "I want to know what the hell is going on asap," Emmett hissed through clenched teeth before storming off past me up to the apartment.

I turned and watched Emmett disappear up the stairs before turning back around and walking down the other set of stairs. I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't afraid of what Edward had been through in the past day or so or however long Jacob had him. Even though, I had no proof that Jacob did indeed have Edward yet, I knew what he was capable of because he'd done it before, and there was truly no doubt in my mind that Jacob was to be blamed for it all.

In my heart of hearts, I knew that Edward was in the hands of the very evil and deadly Jacob Black.

I just hoped he'd survive this time.

**~Edward's POV~**

"Take the blindfold off of him," I head a familiar voice order as I was dragged only God knows where by two guys who both had a vice grip on each of my arms.

I don't know how long it'd been between now and when I was ambushed from behind.

The blindfold was suddenly taken off and the first thing I saw, or better yet person I saw was my, as of late, newest sworn enemy, Jacob Black. I looked around to find that we were outside in the exact same place that I had been attacked by Jacob and his gang only months or so ago. The only difference between that time and this time, though, was that I had no idea how I'd gotten here this time. Other than being ambushed and dragged, of course. I had been knocked out and just came to a few minutes before.

"It's quite amusing how we keep meeting up like this, don't you think?" Jacob said, with his trademark smirk on his face. "Embry, Quil...let him go."

Without a warning I felt my arms being released from the grips that were holding me, and I was pushed painfully to the ground. "What the hell is this about, Black?" I asked, pushing myself up off the ground, and standing up until I was, very bravely, face to face with Jacob.

"Oh, I'm sure you already know what this is about," Jacob answered looking me dead in the eyes.

And, unfortunately, I knew exactly what this was about as soon as I saw the look of desire in Jacob's eyes.

Usually, I wouldn't be stupid enough to talk back, but Bella was at stake here. And, I'd do anything to protect her. Even if it meant having my ass handed to me. Or worse...if it meant me getting killed.

"You'll never have her," I hissed, only to be met with a powerful punch to the jaw that sent me back to the ground.

"Now either you're smart and you'll shut up so I'll be nice enough to let you live again," he said in a threatening tone. "Or you're dumb and you'll keep talking so I'll kill you," he smirked giving me a deathly glare. "It's your choice," Jacob propositioned me while towering over and looking down at me.

I knew better than to continue talking now that Jacob had actually propositioned me. He always had been know to be one that took his own propositions very seriously. Everyone knew that once Jacob voiced what he was thinking he stuck by it. If I kept my mouth shut from now on, more than likely my life would be spared despite whatever was to come. I had to live in order to make sure Bella knew what Jacob was planning. That way she could be at least the slightest bit prepared for whatever it was. I owed her that much, and more.

"You've got something, or better yet  ** _someone_**  that I want," Jacob started his smirk now fallen from his face replaced by a full on glare, instead. "She will be, mine sooner or later, whether you like the it or not," he continued bending over to grab me by the collar of his shirt, and forcing me to stand.

I glared at him, but didn't say a word, pushing my luck.

All I could do was think to myself that I would do any and everything to make sure that he didn't get what he wanted.

Not this time.

"So, here's what you're going to do..." Jacob trailed off, keeping a tight grip on my shirt. "First, you're going to break up with Bella. Secondly, you're going to pack up your bags. Third and lastly, you're going to get the hell out of Miami," Jacob demanded. "Otherwise...whether you're on my territory or McCarty's...I will find you...and I swear I'll finish you for good," he hissed, the look in his eyes only adding to what I already knew. He was dead serious. "Got it?"

I couldn't even begin to believe what I was hearing. Jacob was so obsessed with Bella already after only knowing her for literally less than a day that he was now giving orders to me about my relationship with Bella and where it was to go. Yeah, he was definitely going to have another thing coming. I would never in a million years just leave Bella like that. If I had to die to make sure she was safe, then I would.

But, for now, to make sure I stayed alive long enough to warn Bella, I just had to go with the flow, so I nodded my head vigorously at Jacob's question and mumbled a silent, "Got it."

Jacob's smirk returned as he let go of my shirt collar and took a step back. "Now someone is finally using their brain correctly," he laughed, mockingly.

I continued to glare at Jacob until I heard the sound of what sounded like my cell phone going off. What didn't make sense, though, was that it sounded like the ringing was coming from over near Jacob. Just as easily as it didn't make sense, it suddenly made sense when Jacob pulled my cell phone out of his leather jacket pocket.

"Hmm...speaking of the angel," Jacob said with a chuckle. "It's your girlfriend...soon to be ex. Shall we answer it?"

My eyes widened and my breath caught in my throat.

"Don't," I spat at him, enraged.

Jacob raised an eyebrow and shrugged. "Well, because you said that so rudely," Jacob laughed opening the phone and answering it. "Well, hello, Bella."

**~Bella's POV~**

The whole time I was taking my jog the only thing running through my mind was Edward and to no one's surprise, Jacob. I just had to know what was going on. Where was Edward exactly and why the hell did my gut tell me that Jacob was the one who had him? And, if my gut truly was correct then why did Jacob even have Edward? I mean, surely, Edward wasn't stupid enough to go back over the boundary line. Right?

After arguing back and forth with myself over whether I should or shouldn't call and see if Edward answered his phone for me, I sat down in the sand and pulled out my cell phone. Without any hesitation, I dialed Edward's number and placed the phone up to my ear. It rang and rang.

Just as I was about to hang up I heard the sound of the phone being answered. I stayed silent to see if anyone would speak. At first no one did. But, then I received the surprise, or possibly lack thereof since I had a felling it was true, of a lifetime when a familiar voice that wasn't Edward's came on the phone.

"Well, hello, Bella."

My eyes widened and I instantly swallowed the suddenly newly form lump in my throat.

My gut had been right.

Jacob did, indeed, have Edward.

"Where's Edward, Jacob?" I asked in an obvious worried voice that I didn't even try to hide.

"He's right here," Jacob answered from the other end of the phone.

"Let me talk to him," I demanded.

"No can do, but I'm sure if you were to come to the boundary line we could very well arrange something," Jacob said in a suggestive tone.

"DON'T DO IT, BELLA! STAY WHERE YOU ARE!" I heard Edward yell followed by the sound of him groaning in pain.

"Edward!" I called out, trying to keep my breathing as even as possible. "Jacob, let him go!" I exclaimed, demanding. "He's done nothing to deserve this!"

I heard Jacob chuckle on the other end of the phone. "See, now that's where you're wrong."

What the hell was that suppose to mean?

"He has done something to deserve this," Jacob said in a matter-of-fact tone. "He just didn't know it until it was already too late."

"What the hell are you talking about?" I asked with a hiss.

"Why don't you ask Edward? He knows what he did. You can find him at the boundary line."

Before I could even thing to reply, I heard a click and the line immediately went dead.

"Shit!" I hissed, throwing my phone against the sandy beach, and dropping my head into my hands, which were rested on my knees. I didn't know what the hell Jacob was up to, but I didn't like it in the slightest. As far as I was now concerned, Jacob was like a rabid dog who needed to be put down...badly. And, I'd make damn sure that I was the one to put said rabid dog down. Oh, I definitely would.

Full of rage, I stood up, snatched my phone off of the sand, and dialed Emmett's number. If Jacob wanted to play games then so be it. I stormed off of the beach pressing my phone almost painfully against my ear.

Emmett picked up instantly. "What did you find out?"

"Jacob Black has him! He said we'd find Edward at the boundary line," I spat at him through the phone, tears of rage and frustration flowing like two waterfalls down each side of my face. "I'm heading there now."

"Isabella! No!" Emmett yelled over the phone.

"Too late," I told him before hanging up and putting my phone back into my bra for safe keeping.

It was definitely too late.

I was going to the boundary line and no one could stop me.

They could try.

But, they'd fail.

Apparently, Jacob had picked the wrong day to get on my bad side because when I was pissed off I could be one hell of a force to be reckoned with. And, I was most definitely pissed off right now. I guess, I get my rage from my brother. Not that it matters where I get it from. All that mattered was that I had it.

Maybe it was even possible that my rage could match Jacob's own.

I'd be finding that out very soon.

I was sure of it.


	5. Chapter 4 - Complications Arise

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Twilight. I only own the plot...sort of.

Angry and frustrated, I stormed down the sidewalks of Miami, my soul destination being the boundary line. Regardless of the fact that both Edward and Emmett were against me going there, that's where I was heading and no one could stop me...even if they held a [gun](http://www.fanfiction.net/s/9622108/5/Hothouse) to my head and told me, otherwise.

But, then again, it wasn't really that surprising. After all, when did I ever really [listen](http://www.fanfiction.net/s/9622108/5/Hothouse) to what I was told, no matter what the situation was? The answer? Well, let's see...umm...nine times out of ten...never. When it came to following orders from people, my boyfriend and my brother included, I was really bad at it and always wanted to do the opposite. It wasn't a strong suit of mine. Never had been, and never would be.

The entire way to the boundary line, I was running and bumping into people, like we were all cars in a bumper car arena, pushing them out of the way not caring about anything other than making sure Edward was okay...or that he was at least alive and would be okay in due time.

I knew that Jacob was one of the two most feared people in Miami, and I knew exactly what he was capable of doing, but, as far as I was concerned right now, he had totally crossed an even bigger line than he ever had before this time. 'Cause this time around his actions had concerned me. And, that did not make me the least bit happy. At all.

As far as I knew, Edward hadn't done anything to deserve a beat down like Jacob and his gang most likely gave him. But, according to Jacob, not surprising, Edward must have, apparently, indeed done something to deserve it. I had not even the slightest idea what he was talking about when he told me about that. Whatever it was, though, was probably something way over the top. It was probably something that wasn't as big a deal as it was made out to seem like.

Turning the corner, my eyes widened and my jaw dropped as I caught sight of Edward, beaten and bruised, only a few feet away from me. Before moving to go over to him, I looked around to make sure that no one was around. When I saw that it was only Edward and I around, at the moment, I ran over to him, kneeling down next to him, not caring that the ground was disgusting and dirty.

I looked over Edward to see what injuries he had. The only ones I could tell he had, right off the bat, were the ones to his face. From what I could tell by just giving him a once over, he had a black eye, a broken nose, and the right side of his jaw was most likely going to be extremely bruised for the next week or two. I couldn't believe it. He looked worse than he did the last time, and those injuries were most likely not even close to being the only ones he had.

Reaching my hand out slowly, I placed my hand gently on Edward's stomach only to have him flinch and groan in pain, trying to move away from my touch. Quickly, rather than slowly, I snatched my hand back away from him. Apparently, fractured or broken ribs was to now be added to the list of Edwards's injuries. Jacob and his gang had honestly done an even worse number on Edward than they had last time.

"I'm so sorry," I apologized quickly. "How are you feeling?"

Seriously, Bella?! Stupid question!

"I mean how bad do your injuries hurt?" I asked him, now afraid to touch him at all in fear of uncovering more injuries.

"I...I've been b...better. Th..that's f...for s...sure," Edward answered stuttering while groaning in pain slowly opening his eyes halfway, to look up at me through his eyelashes.

I smiled a sympathetic smile down at him for a moment.

Then, even though, I knew it pained Edward to talk, I just had to know where the hell Jacob and his gang disappeared to. "Where did those jackasses run off to?" I asked, not even trying the slightest to hide my anger and disgust.

"M...more imp...important th...things to do," Edward painfully forced himself to answer.

I scoffed and narrowed my eyes, hissing, "Yeah, more important things to do my ass!"

Despite, feeling like I was being a selfish bitch, at the moment,I asked my next question anyways, "What did Jacob mean by you did something to deserve this beat down?"

Edward groaned and closed his eyes, "T...tell you l...later."

After about a minute, I noticed that Edward's breathing was beginning to become labored and I panicked. "Edward Cullen! You better not fall asleep on me!" I hissed at him, with more of a bite than I was going for. "For all you know you could have a concussion!" I exclaimed slapping his hand as hard as I could, knowing that his hand was one of his body parts that didn't get injured.

He moved slightly and his eyes fluttered open a bit.

I looked down at him with as serious a look on my face as I could muster at this point in time. "Emmett will be here any minute now! You just need to stay awake until he says otherwise, or gets you to the hospital or something," I told him, squeezing his uninjured hand as hard as I could to keep him from falling asleep.

Just about five minutes passed by before Emmett came on to the scene along with a couple of his other guys. Emmett rushed out of his truck and over to where I was kneeling next to Edward, doing anything I could think of to keep him awake. At the sight of Edward, Emmett was even more pissed than he had been this morning. Not only was Edward one of Emmett's best friends, but he was also Emmett's spy

With Edward MIA, Emmett now found himself in a predicament that had his blood boiling.

Jacob was now up on him by one.

"Damn it!" Emmett yelled, furious. "I swear I'm going to kill that mother fucker!"

Turning to the two guys he brought with him he ordered, "Spinner, Alec...get him into the truck, and take him to the hospital."

"What about you boss?" Alec, a jet black haired, green eyed 18 year old, asked.

Emmett turned around and glared at him. "Don't ask questions, just do what I say, Alec," he spat, with a tone and look on his face that dared Alec to do anything but.

Alec lifted his hands and put them out in front of him in surrender. "Yes, boss," he nodded once before making his way over to Edward and I with Spinner following close behind him.

"Bella, back off," Emmett said grabbing my arm lightly and pulling me up to stand.

Spinner and Alec slowly and carefully picked Edward up off the ground and placed him in the truck before getting into the front and speeding off to the hospital.

Once the truck was out of sigh, my anger took over. I turned to look at Emmett and in all honesty said, "When you decide to finally kill Jacob Black...I wanna be there."

Emmett raised an eyebrow a bit shocked by the words that just came out of his sweet and innocent baby sister's mouth, but nodded his head anyways. He trusted me, and knew that I wouldn't do anything to get involved if and when he did come up with a plan to end Jacob Black and his gang once and for all.

"Alright," he said. "If that's what you want, then that's what you'll get."

"Oh, that's truly what I want," I nodded my head, assuring him that I was all for it.

Jacob had truly crossed the line this time, and he might just never come back over it ever again.

**~Edward's POV~**

A few days later, I was released from the hospital and able to talk again without being in a lot of pain. I couldn't stand to lie to Bella, so I called her and asked her to meet up with me at a diner down the street from where she lived. Now that I was feeling a bit better and we had made up again, Bella wanted to know what exactly Jacob had meant when he said that I had done something to deserve the beating I got.

Although, Bella didn't speak of it out loud, I could tell that it had been tearing her up inside ever since the first time she had heard it. She so badly wanted to know what the hell was going on. Of course, I wouldn't lie to her or make up silly excuses not to tell her, so now that I could talk again, I had, or I did, but I would use no excuse to keep from telling her what she wanted to know. After all, she deserved to know since it had something to do with her.

I was interrupted from my thoughts when I heard the diner door open and bang against the wall. I looked up just as Bella rushed into the diner and looked around for me. She caught sight of me sitting by the window and made her way over to the table sitting down across from me.

She didn't want to waste any time getting straight down to business. That's the Bella I had come to know and love.

"Sorry, I'm late. I lost track of time while walking Razor. But, anyways, let's get down to business. It's been eating me up on the inside ever since that day. What the hell did Jacob mean when he said that you did do something to deserve the beating you got?" Bella asked me curiously, whispering while leaning across the table, so that no one around us would hear what we were talking about.

I sighed and shook my head. I really didn't want to tell her the truth and freak her out. Or better yet piss her off. Bella hated being controlled and/or having her life planned out for her more than she hated anything else in the world. I had been dating Bella for at least five months now, and I absolutely hated to be the one to possibly ruin the good thing that we had going by telling her the truth. But, I would not and could not lie to her.

"Edward, what don't you want to tell me?" Bella urged, raising an eyebrow as she sat back in her seat and ordered a coffee when the waitress came by.

I didn't answer. I didn't know how to answer. I knew I was going to tell her exactly what Jacob meant, but I just didn't know how. Should I just blurt it out using the band aid effect? Or should I slowly get into it? Decisions, decisions. So awful. I hated not knowing what to do or say.

"Seriously, Edward! Just spit it out!" Bella exclaimed quickly getting frustrated by my silence. "It can't be that bad."

Alright, band aid effect is it.

"I'm with you," I whispered ever so quietly.

"Huh?" Bella questioned, leaning as close as she could to me over the table, having not heard what I just said. "Say that again a little louder this time," she said sitting back again and mixing creamer and sugar into her coffee before taking a sip.

Alright, no need to freak out and back down now.

"I'm dating you," I said a little louder this time.

Bella's eyes widened as she spit out her coffee.

I just barely dodged the stream that came my way.

"WHAT?" she asked loud enough that she could possibly have woken the dead.

Everyone in the diner's attentions were on her all of a sudden. And, true to the Bella I knew, she didn't appreciate that one bit. She was not the type who liked to be the center of attention if it wasn't absolutely necessary.

Bella looked around and glared at everyone. "What the hell are all of you looking at?" she hissed, and everyone instantly turned back to their own businesses. Then, she turned back to me. "They all beat you half to death just because you're dating me?" she asked in disbelief.

I nodded and confessed, "That's not all."

"What do you mean that's not all?"

"He threatened me to break up with you and leave Miami or he'd finish me off for good next time," I told her holding nothing back.

Banging her fist hard on the table in an outrage, Bella hissed, "Oh, that freaking jackass! Ugh!"

  
**~Bella'** **s POV~**  


I was absolutely fuming. How dare he?! That was absolutely uncalled for. Just because Edward and I were dating, Jacob wanted to be a dick. As if he could ever have me! It would never happen! And, threatening Edward to break up with me and leave town or die...well, that sure as hell wasn't going to get Jacob anywhere with me. What a freaking asshole!

Looking out the window, I noticed three guys standing outside across the street. I'd seen and heard of them time and time before, so I knew right away who they were. If I had to guess, Jacob had sent Embry, Quil, and Seth to "collect me and bring me to him." He was already trying to control my entire love life, so "collect me" doesn't sound so far off.

"Umm...Edward, I'm sorry, but I have to go," I said trying t keep myself as calm as possible. Noticing the look on Edward's face as I said that, I added, "I just need to take a walk and cool myself down."

Edward nodded in understanding.

I stood up and rounded the table to his side. "I'll call you later," I said putting on my best fake smile as I gave him a quick kiss and headed out the door. Looking both ways first, I ran across the street to where Embry, Quil, and Seth stood.

"So, it seems that Jacob's sending you on a deadly mission?" I asked with hatred and disgust in my voice as I crossed my arms over my chest.

"We don't ask him questions. We just follow his orders," Seth answered.

"He wants to see you," Embry deadpanned.

"What makes him think I want to see him?" I asked, scoffing, not that it would really change anything.

"He doesn't care whether you want to see him or not," Quil answered me.

I shook my head and rolled my eyes. "Let's just get this the hell over with," I hissed before following Seth to wherever they were going while Embry and Quil walked behind me.

I suddenly felt like a prisoner being escorted to my death.

It was not a good feeling.

At all!

**~Jacob's POV~**

I stood, leaning against the alley wall waiting for the guys to bring Bella to me. Despite surely being angry with me, I knew that Bella would end up coming. Not by force, but because she wanted to. She may think that she had no choice in the matter, but little did she know, she actually did.

Unlike with other girls, and I honestly had no idea why still, I wouldn't force Bella to do anything she didn't want to. If she didn't want to come see me, then she didn't have to come. It would be her choice to come or not to come whether she knew it or not. But, I wasn't really worried because I knew she'd come. If I learned anything in the little time that I'd known of her, it was that she was the confrontational angry type.

Without a doubt, I knew that her sorry excuse for a boyfriend would have told her by now what his last beat down was all about. It wasn't hard to figure out that he was whipped and would never be able to not tell her something as big and serious as why I did to him what I did.

As if on cue, I was proven right.

"It's nice of you to have come, Bella," I grinned, triumphantly, at the sight of her entering the alley that we've had all of our previous run-ins in.

"I have nothing to say with you," she said right away stomping that gorgeous body of hers my way.

My smirk grew bigger.

Feisty, Bella. Such a turn on.

"Are you sure about that?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. "Because, I'm sensing some tension in the air."

Bella glared at me.

"Oh, come on, Bella. Let it all out. Vent your anger. You know you want to," I said enticingly.

I could tell by the way her bottom lip was quivering and her hands were tightening into fists at her side that she was trying to hold back. She wanted to go off on me, but it seemed that she didn't want to give me that satisfaction. Apparently, I'd have to up the anti and work harder to get a rise out of her.

And, I knew just how to do it.

**~Bella's POV~**

Of course, I had a lot of anger towards him to get off of my chest. That didn't mean that I was going to do it, though. At the moment, I was so pissed off that I wasn't sure whether or not the words would come out the way I wanted them to or not. So, for now it was best that I just kept her mouth shut.

Plus, I didn't want to give him the satisfaction of sending me rushing over the edge. I couldn't give him that satisfaction. I just couldn't. I bit my tongue, hard enough to draw blood, in order to keep myself from giving in to him. I refused to let him have even the slightest bit of control over me.

"Hmm...alright, then..." he trailed off in thought. "If that won't work, then maybe...I beat up your boyfriend and left him close to dead for the second time. I threatened him to break up with you..." Jacob continued on with his enticing.

And, I lost it. Nothing could help me stay calm now.

"Ugh!" I screamed as my fuse finally blew.

I hated to give in to him like this, but I just had to get it all off of my chest.

"How dare you? Gang leader, one of Miami's top two feared guys, or not...you have no fucking right to even think for a second that you can control any part of my life!" I hissed, holding nothing back.

Before I could get control of myself, I lifted my hand and slapped Jacob across the face.

Jacob laughed in complete shock as he rubbed his now stinging cheek that had my hand print on it. "Well, someone's got a violent temper on her," Jacob said, the smirk on his face now suddenly gone.

My eyes went wide and my throat was suddenly dry as I saw the look in his eyes. His eyes were now black as coal. And, if I'm not mistaken...they were filled with lust. Wait, lust?! What the hell?! Oh, no, no, no, no! This wasn't happening. My anger was turning him on? What the hell was wrong with him?!

I suddenly felt my back slam against the brick wall of one of the buildings, that made up one wall of the alley, behind me. To make matters even worse depending on how it was looked at, Jacob had both of my hands pinned against the wall above my head. I was stuck between him and the damn wall. I tried my hardest to escape Jacob's grasps but failed miserably, each and every single time.

"What the hell? Let me..." I started, but was cut off by the feeling of his warm lips on mine.

I freaked out the moment his lips touched mine. Shaking my head quickly, side to side, I somehow managed to escape the kiss. Pulling frantically at my hands that were still in his own, I finally escaped his grasp only to land another slap across his face before sliding my way out from between him and the wall.

"You fucking pervert! You fucking disgust me!" I exclaimed losing it completely. "Just stay the fuck away from me! You threaten my boyfriend with his life and then you kiss me when that fails!" I continued. "Ugh! You asshole!"

Quickly, I turned and ran out of the alley. I didn't stop running until I made it to the north side of the boundary line.

My life had just gotten that much more complicated.

And, there wasn't a damn thing that I could do to change that fact.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There you have it! Now, everything just got even more complicated than it already was to begin with!


	6. Chapter 5 - Determined, Not Obsessed

From the moment that I arrived home, I avoided any and everyone. I locked myself in my bedroom and regardless of the constant knocks at the door by Alice who was pleading with me to come out, I always told her no, and went back to ignoring everyone. After what happened in the alley with Jacob all I wanted was to be left alone so that I could figure out exactly what the hell had happened.

As any girl most likely would after something like that happened to them, I felt violated. I didn't know what the hell Jacob was thinking, but I didn't like it even the slightest bit. It disgusted me to no end. Quite frankly, if I was being completely honest, it reminded me of something similar that happened in the past. Something that I truly never wanted to have to relive.

Besides, that I already had a boyfriend. A boyfriend who I refused to lose just because of a gang leader's newly found obsession with me. It was stupid just thinking about it. I mean, most likely, to Jacob this is all just a game. I'm the chase that he can get a thrill out of. But, I refused to ever be caught. If I was his chase, then he better get ready because he'd be chasing me for the rest of his life.

Goodness gracious! This was so screwed up! I just couldn't seem to grasp the fact that in just a little under a week I went from being simply the younger sister of Emmett McCarty all the way to being his rival Jacob Black's newest obsession. It was as if I had suddenly been sucked into a black hole that refused to ever spit me back out. No pun intended with the black hole and last name similarity.

I hadn't signed up for any of this. When I had first found out about two years ago about my brother's bad boy lifestyle I was guaranteed that for no reason whatsoever would I ever get mixed up in his lifestyle. But, of course, as I now knew my brother didn't exactly have control over every little aspect nor situation in life. Hence, I am in the situation that I am in now.

I was broken out of my thoughts, suddenly, by the sound of another knock on my bedroom door. I was sure that I already knew who it was.

"Go away, Alice!" I called out.

"It's not Alice," Emmett's voice came from the other side of the door.

Damn it!

**~Emmett's POV~**

Less than ten minutes after getting a call from Alice saying that she had a feeling that something was wrong with Bella, I was bursting through the door of Alice and Bella's apartment. From what Alice said, Bella had been in her room for a few days straight and refused to come out for anything. That was so unlike Bella. I knew the second Alice told me that there was definitely something wrong.

"She still in there?" I asked, shutting the door behind me.

Alice shook her head. "I don't know what's wrong. Every time I knock on the door she tells me to go away," she said as she paced back and forth in the living room. "This is so unlike her. Usually she'll tell me what's going on. But, for whatever reason, she won't tell me anything at all."

"Let me see what I can do," I replied, turning and walking towards Bella's bedroom.

"Okay," Alice sighed behind me. "Hopefully you'll have better luck."

I nodded my head and then knocked on the bedroom door.

Moments later, I heard Bella call out, "Go away, Alice!"

"It's not, Alice," I corrected her, followed by a minute or two of silence.

But, then, the TV went quiet and I heard Bella's footsteps coming across the hardwood floor that covered the ground area of her room. I heard the lock of the door and then it opened to reveal a messed up looking Bella.

She looked like she hadn't showered, eaten, slept, or done anything else in order to keep up her appearance and health in days. Her clothes were all wrinkled, her hair was a mess, and she had dark circles under her eyes.

"What do you want, Emmett?" she asked, turning and walking back to her bed before throwing herself backwards onto it.

I entered the room closing the door behind me.

"I wanna know why my baby sister has been locking herself in her bedroom for the past few days refusing to come out for anything," I answered her taking a seat at the foot of her bed.

Something just wasn't right with my sister, and if I was being truly honest...it really did scare me to see her acting and looking like this.

God, I hoped it wasn't for anything to major of a reason.

**~Bella's POV~**

I smiled to myself as I momentarily flashed back to when Emmett and I were kids. He was always such a good brother. Whenever I needed someone to talk to or comfort me, he was always there. Even now that he was the leader of a gang and one of Miami's top two feared people...when it came to me he still pushed his bad boy ways to the side for a while.

"Bella," Emmett said snapping me out of my thoughts.

"Huh?" I asked. "Oh, right," I said seeing the look on his face.

I nervously bit my bottom lip.

There was no way in hell that I could tell my brother the true reason that I was refusing to leave my room. He'd blow a freaking gasket if I did. Therefore, so that I wouldn't be fully lying I decided to tell Emmett the exact same thing that Edward had told me earlier at the diner. I mean, it was the truth, so I wouldn't feel guilty at all for lying to him because I really wouldn't be.

"I found out why Jacob Black did what he did to Edward," I mostly truthfully confessed.

Emmett raised an eyebrow. "How'd you find out?" he questioned curiously.

"Apparently, Jacob told Edward why and I forced Edward to tell me," I answered hoping that he wouldn't read the look on her face and know that I was still keeping something from him.

I got lucky when Emmett spoke again, "What did Edward tell you was the reason?"

"He just said that Jacob threatened him to leave Miami and never return or he'd finish him off for good next time," I said, looking away from him.

I purposely left out the part where Jacob also threatened Edward to break up with me. That part wasn't that important, at this point. Well, not really.

"Black threatened one of my guys to leave town," Emmett said, anger boiling in his blood as he stood up abruptly, I didn't have to be a genius to know the boiling anger part was true.

My eyes widened at Emmett's sudden anger. Although, by now I should have been used to it.

"Umm...where are you going?" I asked Emmett suddenly alert myself.

Emmett turned and looked at me and in a serious tone of voice answered, "The gang and I are going to go pay Jacob a surprise visit."

"You're not going to kill him, are you?" I asked, biting my lower lip.

"I haven't decided yet," Emmett answered crossing his arms. "Did you want to go with just in case?"

"Why would I want to go with?" I wondered turning my tv off and standing up.

"You said the other day when they beat up Edward that you wanted to be there when I killed him," Emmett said refreshing my memory.

"Oh, right. I remember now," I said as it all came back to me. "Umm...no, I'm just going to stay here."

My words shocked myself as well as Emmett. Why wouldn't I want to go and see Jacob possibly get killed? I mean, my life would return back to normal if he wasn't in the picture anymore. But, why did I say no, then? What was up with me all of a sudden?

"I'll call Edward and let him know what's going on," I told Emmett still wondering what the hell had caused me to even think about saying no when not too long ago, I was so ready to see Jacob die. "Just be safe. You never know what'll happen," I smiled briefly at him hugging him and kissing his cheek.

I laughed when he shrugged off my hug and wiped off his cheek. Emmett never was one who liked any type of affection. But, then again neither was I. I only did that because I, in fact, knew that what I had just said to him was true. No one really ever knows what'll happen. Emmett and I, as well as our older brother, Jasper, all learned that the hard way when our mother just up and left a month before we moved here to Miami. It hadn't been easy on either us, but we had no choice but to somehow move on from it.

"Don't worry. I'll be fine," Emmett assured me, turning and leaving the room.

I waited until I heard the apartment door close before I rushed to my walk-in closet, grabbed a change of clothes and quickly changed into them. I ran a quick brush through my hair and put it up in a ponytail. I had no idea what came over me all of a sudden, but something inside of me told me that I should...no, actually that I had to go warn Jacob about what was going to happen not too long from now.

 **~Alice's POV** ~

I was still pacing back and forth in the living room when I saw Emmett come out of Bella's room. I opened my mouth to ask him if he had found anything out, but I didn't get the chance to ask my question. He went straight to the door and left without a word. He looked angry about something.

I stopped pacing and turned to go and try to talk to Bella myself when she suddenly came running out of her bedroom. She made a beeline to where all of our keys hung on the key rack and grabbed them before bolting for the door.

"Bella!" I called after her. "What's going on?"

"Not now, Alice!" she replied in a frantic tone.

"But, Bella..." I started to protest.

I just wanted to know what the hell was going on.

Bella sighed exasperated and ran out the door, ignoring me all together now.

A split second decision had me quickly getting my own keys and running out the door in a hurry. I ran out the door, pulling it closed, and letting it slam shut behind me. I wasn't even sure if I had locked it, but that was the last of my concerns right now.

I had to catch up with Bella. Well, I had to get her in my sights, at least. I didn't want her to actually know that I was following her. That would defeat the purpose of what I was planning on doing. Something was seriously different about her as of late. Usually, I wasn't the type to be nosy, but this situation simply asked for it. I would find out what was going on. I would make sure of it.

**~Bella's POV~**

Normally I would have taken the elevator, but since I was in a rush, I took the stairs. Running down the stairs, I couldn't help, but curse my older brother, Jasper, for renting an apartment on the seventh floor. What the hell was he thinking? This just didn't work so well when in a hurry to save someone's life, whether they deserved it or not.

By the time I made it down to the hotel lobby, I was so full of adrenaline that I ran out the lobby door not evening thinking about the possibility of Emmett still being there. Unfortunately, that was exactly the case. Emmett was still in fact in the parking lot waiting for his gang to arrive. I spotted him just in time, and stopped dead in my tracks.

"Damn!" I cursed, ducking behind a bush that decorated the front of the apartment building.

Oh, god!

He could not see me coming. If he did, then I knew, without a doubt, that I would be screwed. I would no longer have a choice but to tell him the truth. The whole truth. And, that was so far from the first thing that I wanted to do right now. It just simply couldn't happen that way.

I watched carefully, like a predator stalking its prey, and waited until his back was turned before I made a run for it. I had never run so fast in my life. Not even on my afternoon wake me up jogs, sometime runs, did I run this fast. After this, I think I could skip a few more wake me up jogs.

"Please don't look! Please don't look!" I thought to myself running across the parking lot.

I got lucky and made it to my car and inside without being caught by Emmett.

Thank you, God!

Not taking anymore chances, I started the car, in an instant, pulled out of my parking spot quickly, and sped out of the parking lot taking a sharp left turn heading south. I hoped and prayed to God that Emmett didn't get the chance to notice that it was my car speeding away.

My palms were sweaty as I drove down the crowded street, swerving in and out of other cars. I didn't have the slightest idea as to why I even cared what happened to Jacob. I mean, after everything Jacob had done to ruin my life in the past week or so that I'd known him, he didn't deserve my sympathy or anything for that matter.

Yet, here I was speeding down a crowded road knowing fully well that I was in danger of getting pulled over, or hitting some innocent bystander, but I couldn't bring myself to care. All I could seem to care about, though, was getting to Jacob and warning him in time. What the hell was going on with me?

Before long, I found myself less than a mile away from the boundary line, and pulled into a nearby parking lot. I parked in the middle of the parking lot between two trucks just in case Emmett got to the line before I could leave. That way he wouldn't be able to see my car unless he went searching for it. The last thing I wanted was for Emmett to ever find out about what had been going on the past week. Especially, not this way.

Getting out of my car and locking it, I cautiously walked out of the parking lot and headed towards the south side of town. Many times while walking before I passed over the boundary line, I thought about just saying screw it, turning around, and letting the chips fall where they may. But, each time whatever it was inside of me that told me to do this, forced me not to.

My nerves finally got the best of me once I was in Jacob's territory, and no longer in the safety of my brother's. It was around nine at night and I was walking alone in an unfamiliar territory. My only saving grace was the fact that the streets of Miami were always lit up like Christmas trees by tons and tons of street lights. No one would be stupid enough to mess with me where someone could possibly see.

I walked slowly down the street sidewalk not knowing where I'd find Jacob at. Luckily, though, as if on que halfway down the sidewalk about twenty feet away from me, I spotted Jacob along with Embry, Quil, and Seth walking my way. I had no idea where they came from since they hadn't been there a minute ago, but I didn't question it.

I walked a few more steps before stopping and just standing there. I didn't want to be too far onto the south side territory just in case I had to run for my life for any reason. It wouldn't surprise me one bit if this idea of mine to warn Jacob about Emmett's surprise attack turned out that way. Nothing dealing with Jacob ever turned out well for me it seemed.

"You just couldn't get enough of me, could you?" Jacob asked with his usual smirk once he was in hearing distance of me.

I scoffed and rolled my eyes exclaiming, "Yeah, right! You wish!"

**~Jacob's POV~**

I hadn't been expecting her to be back around so soon, so consider me very surprised, when I got a call from one of my guys saying that they had seen Bella walking towards the boundary line. With Embry, Quil, and Seth behind me, I decided to meet her halfway.

"You just couldn't get enough of me, could you?" I asked, smirking once I was in hearing distance of her.

Bella scoffed and rolled her eyes exclaiming, "Yeah, right! You wish!"

"Well, then if not that, then what do I owe to this honor?" I asked stopping only a few feet away from her.

"Emmett's got his gang together and he's planning a surprise attack on you any minute now," Bella answered getting straight to the point as she crossed her arms over her chest.

I raised an eyebrow at her. "And, how would you know that?" I wondered curiously.

"Edward told me," Bella told me.

Part of me doubted her answer, but another part of me decided that it was good enough for now.

"And, yet you're telling me?" I asked her, pleasantly surprised at what I was hearing.

"What is that suppose to mean?" Bella shot back with her own question.

"Well, after everything I've done...well, with beating your boyfriend to a bloody pulp and kissing you and all, I would've figured that you would want me dead and out of your life for good," I explained to her, placing my hands in the pockets of my black jeans that I noticed Bella checking me out in.

I smirked. "Like what you see?"

Looking like a deer caught in headlights, Bella's head snapped up and her eyes met mine.

She ignored my question, going on with my statement from earlier, "You're right, I do want you dead and out of my life for good, but if you're to be killed then I, at least, feel that you should stand a chance at possibly living."

"Stand a chance?" I laughed at her comment.

Was the serious?

"I'm sure I can handle anything that comes my way," I assured her.

It was Bella's turn to laugh.

"Yeah, I hate to break it to you, but four on eleven...the odds don't look so good for you," Bella said, glaring at me. "Therefore, you should really get on getting your whole gang together because any minute Emmett and his gang could be here, and you wouldn't not want to be prepared," she added.

Usually, I would've been able to think of something to say in return, but surprisingly I couldn't seem to think of an argument for what Bella said. As much as it sucked to admit, Bella had actually one upped me and left me speechless for probably the first time ever.

Not wanting to seem like I was losing my touch, in front of the guys, for not replying, I quickly thought of something to say and ended up asking with a mischievous grin, "Do I get a kiss for good luck?"

**~Bella's POV~**

It was obvious that I had rendered him speechless! Go me!

A mischievous grin of my own found its way onto my face. "You said it yourself you can handle anything that comes your way," I smirked, using his own words on him. "The last thing you need is a good luck kiss. Besides, I'm still pissed off about you practically tongue raping me a few days ago," I told him bluntly, with a look that dared him to argue.

"BLACK!" a voice was suddenly heard before Jacob could reply to my comment.

"Oh shit!" I exclaimed to myself, recognizing it as Emmett's voice, immediately.

"Embry, Quil, Seth get the others now!" Jacob ordered suddenly.

"Yes, boss," they all three said in unison before turning and running off to follow there orders, leaving me alone with Jacob, for I think the first time ever.

But, that was the last thing on my mind really right now.

Not turning around in fear of Emmett noticing me there, I looked directly at Jacob and smiled briefly. "Well, I hope the rest of your gang is close by. Otherwise, it's more than likely lights out for you," I said, shocked when I felt a ping of sadness.

"Does that possibility make you sad?" Jacob asked, apparently, catching sight of the slight sadness in my eyes.

"No!" I exclaimed quickly avoiding anymore eye contact with him.

"Are you sure about that?" Jacob asked me, moving in closer to me.

A shiver ran up and down my spine as I felt Jacob's breath on my face. I bit my lower lip, and forced myself to control my breathing. I had to get out of here. And, quick. I didn't know what it was, but there was something about Jacob that made me feel things that I never thought possible. To say the least, it freaked me out really bad.

"Are you sure about that?" Jacob asked again when I didn't answer him the first time.

"I have to go," I said quickly beginning to turn around, but heard my brother scream Jacob's last name again reminding me that he was at the boundary line. "Damn it!" I exclaimed turning back to Jacob. "Is there another way to get back to the north side without having to go through Emmett and his gang?" I asked him, even though, I didn't want to.

I just wanted to be on the north side and back in the safety of my beach-side apartment.

"Next block over," Jacob answered motioning his head to my right. "It'll lead you to the parking lot where you parked your car."

My eyes widened. "How the hell do you know where I parked my car?" I asked before realizing that I'd actually rather not know. "Wait! Never mind. I don't want to know."

"I keep my eye on you," Jacob confessed to me with a slight smirk that wasn't as noticeable as his usual one.

I scoffed and shook my head, "You really are obsessed with me, aren't you?"

Jacob shook his head and answered, "Obsessed isn't the right word...determined is a better one."

"Determined?"

"Determined to make you mine," Jacob told me point blank sending shivers up and down my spine.

I was briefly frozen solid in place. I swallowed the lump in my throat and forced myself to stop acting like I was scared because I really wasn't.

"I'm gonna go," I said quickly rushing past Jacob without another word.

Once I was a considerable amount of feet away from him, I broke out in a run, and didn't stop until I made it back into the safety of my car.

**~Alice's POV~**

Oh my ever loving God!

Had I really just witnessed what I think I witnessed?

No way!

Bella would never...

Oh, god!

This wasn't good.

This wasn't good at all.


	7. Chapter 6 - Seeing One's True Colors

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Before you read, I should warn you....Jacob's true colors will be revealed in this chapter...no more "Mr. Nice Guy." Well, for this chapter at least...and maybe the next...oh, you'll see.

Bella wasn't there when I got home, and I was extremely grateful that she wasn't.

I was still trying to process everything that I had witnessed. I didn't want to believe it, but the proof had been right there in front of my eyes.

Bella and Jacob Black?

Bella said that she didn't have anymore to do with him after she got her phone back. If she was telling the truth, why did I follow Bella to the boundary line and onto Jacob's territory?

From my hiding spot I hadn't been able to hear very clearly what was being said. I didn't want to risk getting closer since closer meant crossing the line, and I sure as hell wasn't going to leave the comfort of this side of the line ever again.

I couldn't hear clearly, so all I could do was hope that maybe I was thinking the worst and that something entirely different from what I feared was happening then had actually happened. I mean, there's just no way that Bella would have gone to him for any reason, right?

But, if what happened was different from what I feared then how did that explain Bella running out in a hurry after Emmett left earlier...only to end up where she ended up. Something was very off about this situation. I didn't want to believe Bella a liar, but that was the conclusion that I kept coming to.

All I could do for now was hope and pray that the situation wasn't as bad as it seemed until I could confront Bella about it.

As if on cue, the apartment door opened and Bella walked in.

"I can confront her sooner rather than later," I thought to myself.

And, that's exactly what I would do.

**~Bella's POV~**

I got home about an hour later after taking the long way home, I needed time to clear my head. My actions tonight were absolutely despicable. I had given Jacob a heads up that Emmett was coming after him and in the process pretty much gave him the go ahead to hurt him, in away.

What kind of sister was I? At this point, I was worse than Emmett...I mean, throughout all of his time as a gang leader he never once let anything happen to me. And, here I was setting him up for an ambush just about. I was just as bad if not worse than him right now...and it sucked.

Shaking my head and sighing to myself, I unlocked the apartment door and walked inside.

I closed the door behind me and walked into the living room only to come face to face with Alice.

She had a perplexed look on her face...scrutinizing gaze and all, her arms were crossed, and she was staring straight at me.

"Everything okay?" I asked her.

"I don't know," she answered with a hint of accusation in her tone. "You tell me."

"Tell you what?" I questioned, confused.

"I thought you were done with Jacob after you got your phone back?" Alice snapped at me. "I thought that you wanted to go back to how your life was before your run in with him?"

I was shocked by how she was acting, she was never one to raise her voice like that.

"Why are you giving me the third degree?" I asked, giving her a look of "I'm not following."

"I saw you!" she exclaimed.

"Uh-oh!" I thought to myself. "What did she see?"

Apparently, I asked the last question out loud because she answered back.

"I saw you go talk to Jacob Black on his territory an hour ago!"

My eyes widened. "You saw?" I asked, feeling my stomach sink. "This is so not good," I thought to myself.

"Don't play dumb with me, Bella!" she hissed through clenched teeth.

"How do you even know that?" I shot back, crossing my arms.

"Please tell me there's nothing going on between you two," she said ignoring my question.

"What?!" I shrieked. "God, no!"

"Then why did I see you two talking earlier?!"

I rushed to think of the first lie that I could. "Because I went for a walk to clear my head and wasn't watching where I was going. Before I knew it I was on his territory and had another run in with him."

Alice gave me a doubtful look.

"That's like the worst lie ever," I scolded myself.

Alice raised an eyebrow. "Clear your head about what?" Alice interrogated me, her voice now quieter but definitely more dangerous.

"Emmett going to kill someone," I answered quickly. "You know how I get when he tells me he's going after someone...even if they deserve it, it still scares me. I mean, you never know what will happen."

Alice narrowed her eyes at me.

"Please, let that work," I thought in my head.

Finally, Alice sighed and dropped her arms.

"Yeah, I know."

"Oh, thank god." I grinned to myself.

"I'm sorry I snapped at you," Alice apologized. "I just jumped to the wrong conclusions."

I shook my head and smiled. "It's fine," I assured her. "If anyone should be sorry it's me," I thought instantly angry at myself. "I'm just going to go to bed and sleep away the drama of the day," I told Alice with a small smile.

She nodded her head in understanding. "Okay."

"Goodnight, Alice. See you tomorrow," I said, turning and walking to my bedroom.

"Goodnight, Bella!" she called after me.

**~Alice's POV~**

I watched as Bella retreated to her room and closed the door behind her.

I wanted to believe her...I really did, but I couldn't...not completely. I knew Bella well enough to know that there was more to every situation that she got herself into than meets the eye. She wasn't telling me everything, that much I knew for a fact.

I didn't know what exactly she was keeping from me, but I feared that it wasn't good...not good at all.

Somehow I needed to find out what it was she wasn't saying. The sooner I knew the better. I was afraid that if someone didn't know and help her with whatever it was soon...something bad would happen to her or someone else.

I couldn't let that happen, especially not when I was aware that something more was going on. I would hate myself if something happened and I knew but didn't do anything about it. But I didn't need to worry because nothing too bad would happen on my watch...I'd make sure of it.

**~Bella's POV~**

I couldn't sleep at all, I was constantly tossing and turning, replaying Jacob's words in my head over and over, "Determined to make you mine," like they were lyrics to one of those catchy songs on the radio that a person couldn't get out of their head for days after hearing it.

I tried but failed each time to figure out why the words even had me on edge to begin with. I was with Edward, and even if I wasn't I didn't like Jacob like that, right? So, why did I even care about those words? Other than them being stuck in my head, I had a difficult type coming up with any other reasons.

I looked over at the clock on my nightstand and saw that it was 2:30 am. I sighed frustrated, kicked the covers off, and forced myself out of bed. I made my way out of my room and into the kitchen to get a flavored water out of the fridge.

I held the water tightly in my hand and walked into the living room, jumping face first onto the couch. All I wanted right now was to sleep, but I couldn't because of the previous night's events. It still baffled me as to why I went and warned Jacob about Emmett's plans.

It seemed that the couch did what my bed couldn't, I slowly started drifting off to sleep. Before I could fall asleep, however, I heard the door knob leading into the apartment begin to rattle. The rattling sound managed to annoy me right away.

I got off of the couch and went to open the door because whoever was on the other side obviously wasn't having any luck. The sight I saw when I opened the door shocked me to no end. Without a word, I stepped out-of-the-way and watched as a bloodied and bruised Emmett walked into the apartment with a limp.

"Oh god! This is all my fault," I thought guiltily to myself. "Stupid. So stupid!"

I closed and locked the door before I turned and walked through the foyer door. I kept my distance and followed Emmett into the kitchen. He made a beeline for the sink where he washed the blood off of his hands. My eyes widened as I silently watched the blood come off of his hands and flow down the drain.

From where I was standing, I could see that Emmett had busted open his knuckles. I didn't have to be a genius to know that there was no way that all that blood was his. I couldn't help but wonder who else's blood was on my brother's hand.

To say that I was scared to ask him about it would be an understatement.

I opened my mouth to speak, but closed it when Emmett spoke first.

With his back still turned to me, Emmett hissed through clenched teeth, "They were ready for us."

He turned off the sink faucet and spun around to lean back against the counter.

His anger had turned his eyes as black as coal.

Emmett looked me dead in my eyes. "He said that he has someone on the inside now."

I gulped and bit my tongue as hard as I could in hopes that the pain would hide her guilt.

"Someone on the inside?" I asked playing it off like I was just as surprised as he must have been when Jacob first told him.

Emmett simply answered with a yes.

"Oh wow! That's unexpected," I said breaking eye contact with him. "Since when did I become Jacob's "someone on the inside?" I asked myself.

Last time I checked I hated him and he knew damn well that I did.

"What a dumbass."

I mentally kicked myself in the head when I stopped thinking stupidly and realized that I was exactly that...Jacob's "someone on the inside."

"That's what happens when you fill someone like that in on ambushes," I scolded myself. "How dumb could you possibly be?"

Obviously, very dumb.

Emmett spoke again, successfully breaking me from my thoughts.

"I'm going to find out who it is, and when I do..." he started to say in a very threatening tone before pausing for a moment. "Well, you can already guess the rest."

I'm pretty sure I turned ghostly pail...even more so than I already was...when his words sunk in.

Emmett apparently noticed and raised an eyebrow, letting go of his anger momentarily. "Are you okay, Bella?"

I quickly nodded my head. "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," I answered, lying straight through her teeth.

"No, no I'm not okay," I said to myself. "I'm scared half to death right now."

I sure hoped that if Emmett ever found out I was the one who informed Jacob about Emmett's plan to lead a surprise attack on him that he wouldn't actually do anything to harm her. I mean, I'm his sister...what I did was wrong, but he'd never...or at least I don't think he would.

"Umm, well, I'm going to go and try to get some sleep. I'll see you in the afternoon," I said before I ran and locked myself safely in my bedroom.

**~Emmett's POV~**

I watched suspiciously as Bella ran to her bedroom and slammed the door shut behind her.

If I wasn't already curious about her recent attitude change, I definitely was now. I knew her well enough to know that she was hiding something from me. The way she was acting around me lately...she never acted like this before. Which is why I was so sure that whatever she was hiding from me was something that I wouldn't like.

I didn't know what exactly she was hiding from me, but I did know that it wouldn't be long until I found out. I'd make sure of it. I didn't like that she was hiding something from me, especially not when I was always honest with her about everything whether it be good or bad.

Up until now our relationship had been based on not one lie.

But now things were quickly changing and I had a feeling that they weren't for the better.

**~Bella's POV~**

That afternoon I woke up around 12:00 like I usually did after a sleepless night. Once I retreated back to my room after Emmett had gotten here, it took another hour or so of twisting and turning before I had finally gotten to sleep around 4:30ish.

My wake up routine went smoothly as it usually did until I checked my phone. I had planned on calling Edward to see if he wanted to do something with me today. My plans came to a screeching stop when I scrolled through my contacts to find Edward's number so that I wouldn't have to dial it.

I scrolled down the list until I came across a name and number that I didn't put into my phone. In caps were the initials JB. My eyes widened and my jaw dropped when I put two and two together. JB obviously stood for Jacob Black...I dropped my phone in the alley that night, he found it...but, then how did he not figure out Emmett is my brother...oh, yeah, Emmett's number was under Emmie Bear...it was my own personal joke because I always used to call him that to make him mad when we were younger.

But, back to Jacob putting his number into my phone...I should have known he had actually looked through my phone. He said he hadn't, but it was in his nature to lie. So, it shouldn't really come as a shock to me that he went through and added himself in. What an ass!

Not even bothering to make my bed, I put on my jogging outfit and sneakers. On my way out I grabbed up my Ipod from the dresser in my closet. I hung the headphones around my neck and placed the Ipod in my pocket.

Then I made my way out to the kitchen where Alice was.

"Afternoon, Bella," Alice said with a slight smile. "Coffee?" she asked holding out the cup she had in her hand.

I shook my head no. "No thanks. I'll just stop at Starbucks after my jog."

"Alright, then," Alice said as she placed the cup on the counter so she could get the milk out of the fridge. "So, how are you doing?" she asked as she poured some milk into her coffee.

I raised an eyebrow and asked her own question, "Why would you ask me that?"

Alice shut the fridge door after she put the milk away and turned towards me. "I can't be the only one of us who has noticed your sudden changes in attitude and questionable actions recently," she said in a questioning tone.

I shook her head side to side. "I haven't the slightest idea what you're talking about. Everything's fine with me," I lied.

Alice didn't reply right away. "You know you're lucky you're such a good liar. If you weren't then I'd be able to tell if you were lying or telling the truth right now," she finally spoke up.

"I'm not that good of a liar, Alice," I argued.

"Well, obviously you are since I can't tell if you are or not," Alice pointed out.

"Hmm, maybe I am better than I thought then," I smiled to myself. "Don't worry, Alice. I'm fine. I promise," I assured her best friend with yet another apparently great lie.

"I'll take your word for it," Alice said with a sigh. "Don't make me ashamed of myself for believing you."

"I won't," I lied again. "Well, look at that. I guess I really am that good," I joked silently to myself. "Well, I'm off for my jog," I smiled briefly as I walked over and gave Alice a half hug before I quickly left the apartment so that Alice had no chance of saying something else to me.

Instead of turning right to go to the beach where I usually took my "wake me up" jog at, I turned left and headed for the south side territory. I didn't know what had pushed me to head that way, but whatever it was was strong enough to make me not want to turn back. Something obviously wanted me to go that way instead of the other way.

I had this unexplainable feeling in my gut that something wasn't right. I had no clue what it was or why I was going towards whatever was making me uneasy, but the closer I got to the boundary line the worse the feeling in the pit of my stomach got. It was as if someone were pressing something into my stomach with all their might and failing each time only to press even harder than before the next time.

Something was very wrong, as much as I didn't want to admit it to herself I knew it to be the truth. The feeling in my stomach getting worse as I approached the boundary line was proof of that. I figured that it must have something to with Jacob and his gang...otherwise, why would I be going this way. Actually, that was a good question in general. I knew something was wrong, so why didn't I run away from it instead of towards it? It's like I no longer had any control of myself.

After jogging for about twenty minutes, I found myself right around the corner from the boundary line. I stopped jogging to catch my breathe. After my breathing slowly turned back to normal I started walking. Just before I turned the corner, I stopped dead in her tracks. I could hear yells and gasps of pain coming from more than just one person. I was scared to turn the corner because of what I might see.

I was about to turn around and go home, despite whatever urge was trying to keep me around, since I didn't really feel like getting involved in whatever the hell was going on. I heard a familiar voice before I could turn to leave and suddenly decided against it, I had a feeling that I knew what was going on. Of course, me being me I had to find out if I was right or not.

"Emmett will get you for this, Black!" a voice that I recognized as one of Emmett's guys, Dylan, hissed.

I swallowed the lump in my throat and suddenly felt sick to my stomach as I peered around the corner. I knew as soon as I heard the voice that Jacob and his gang had probably lured a few of Emmett's gang members to the boundary line and jumped them.

Unfortunately, I was right about my feeling.

"I'm looking forward to it," I heard Jacob laugh just before a gasp came from Dylan's throat as he was grabbed on both sides of his neck and I watched in horror as Jacob snapped his neck, throwing his dead, limp body to the ground as if it were nothing.

I jumped and bit my lower lip hard enough to draw blood to try and keep myself from crying out, but it didn't help as a loud cry forced itself from my throat.

"Oh god!" I exclaimed not caring who heard, I had a feeling that Jacob and the others had already heard me cry out so what was the point in keeping quiet now.

All of a sudden, I lost my balance and fell forward. The second that I did, I felt the burning gazes of Jacob and his whole gang turn their attentions to me. I quickly stood up doing my best to keep myself from crying the tears that were just begging to fall down my face.

I momentarily locked eyes with Jacob's and for the first time since I'd met him in person I could see the true evil in his eyes. I quickly broke the gaze and surveyed the ground only to find that Jacob and his gang had also claimed two other guys from Emmett's gang as victims...they weren't Emmett's most important ones, but it still wasn't a pretty sight.

I wasn't sure if they were both dead as well, though quite frankly I was scared to find out. I ever so slowly let my eyes drift down to where Jacob had thrown Dylan's lifeless body. Just as my eyes landed on Dylan, I tore them away and without sparing another look at Jacob and his gang, I turned and bolted down the sidewalk.

**~Jacob's POV~**

I carelessly threw the lifeless body to the ground in front of me. About the same time I heard the thud of him hitting the concrete I also heard the sound of a familiar gasp. I turned my head in the direction that the sound came from and saw Bella peeking her head around the corner and then she lost her balance and fell forward. She bounced back immediately and stood up.

Our eyes locked momentarily before Bella broke out eye contact and looked down to survey the ground where a few other guys had been previously thrown. I watched her intently and in a flash without looking in my direction again she turned and bolted down the sidewalk.

I couldn't let her get away after what she just witnessed, therefore I quickly ran after her. It didn't take long for me to catch up with her. She tried to run faster, but to no avail. I ran up on her and slipped my arm around her waist. I knew that she'd try to scream so I slapped my free hand over her mouth before she could get the chance.

Her tears slid down her face and dampened my hand. I figured she'd give up, but she proved me wrong. She refused to go down with a fight. Bella began squirming in my grasp. I tightened my grip around her waist. With all her strength she could muster in her state of hysterics, she started kicking and hitting trying to get out of my grip.

Bella continued kicking and hitting even as I dragged her into a nearby alley and slammed her into one of the alley walls. Her kicking and hitting stopped upon impact. I waited a minute before I turned her around and slammed her back against the hard brick wall.

"Open your eyes," I ordered.

She took in a deep breath through her nose, since her mouth was still covered, swallowed the lump in her throat, and opened her eyes. Bella slowly reached her hands up to her face and wiped both of her eyes in order to see clearly through her tears. I could feel her shaking as she looked into my eyes.

"I'll take my hand off of your mouth, but don't scream," I threatened. "Or else," I warned. "Understand?"

Bella nodded her head frantically and looked around behind me. I think she was looking to see if she could escape somehow. It wasn't possible with Embry, Quil, and Seth blocking the entrance of the alley.

I stayed true to my words and took my hand off of Bella's mouth. I could see it in her eyes that she wanted so badly to scream, but she was apparently aware enough about me that I was serious whenever I threatened her or anyone else for that matter.

"You will not tell anyone what you just saw...nothing at all. Not even the slightest bit of it that will make people curious. Do I make myself clear?" I asked as I looked her dead in her eyes and waited for her response.

Bella nodded her head yes.

"Good," I said willing to take that as a good enough answer. "Because there will serious consequences if I find out that you told anybody anything at all," I told her being one hundred percent truthful with my words.

More tears poured down her face after my latest threat.

**~Bella's POV~**

I hated the fact that I was so vulnerable right now. The only other time I'd ever been this vulnerable was when...well that didn't matter right now. It wasn't hard for me to decide that I would rather deal with one horrible situation at a time. Remembering the past was not a wise thing to do right now.

Disregarding the sight of the tears pouring down my face, Jacob asked, "What were you doing over here near the boundary line?"

I shrugged because I honestly didn't know. Well, aside from the fact that the feeling in my gut made me come here. He'd probably think I was insane if I told him that. In my own way, of course, since I think it's pretty obvious that Jacob was as insane as insane could get.

I yelped as I felt Jacob grab my shoulders and squeeze with immense pressure. "Don't lie to me Bella," he growled, his teeth clenched together. "Why were you really here?" Jacob asked again.

I shrugged again only to be squeezed even tighter. I yelped louder this time as I fought to catch my breath that was suddenly eluding me. Between the pressure of Jacob's hands squeezing my shoulders and my crying that refused to stop, I felt like I was being suffocated to death. To make matters worse, my palms were getting sweaty...and I knew exactly what that was a sign of.

"Oh god! Not here! Please not here!" I pleaded in my head.

I knew this feeling all to well. I was borderline having a panic attack, and this was the last place that I wanted to have one at "L...let g...go o...of m...me!" I exclaimed finding some strength in my voice, but only getting it out in stutters.

Jacob refused to let go of me and once again added pressure to his hold on my shoulders.

"Not until you tell me what you were doing here," he hissed at me.

Gasping for breath, I managed to get out a few more words, but to no avail, "S...ser...seriously! Ca...can't b...br...breathe."

When that didn't work, I put both of her hands on Jacob's chest and pushed with all of my might. I shocked myself as well as Jacob, Embry, Quil, and Seth at how hard I pushed when I felt Jacob's grip on my shoulders loosen and he stumbled backwards leaving only one way for me to go...down.

I fell to the dirty, solid cement of the alley gasping for air, and trying my best to recover my breath as much as I could.

"I wish you wouldn't have done that," I heard Jacob say.

I looked up and in the direction that his voice came from and saw that he was now walking my way. I didn't know what he was going to do to me, I was afraid to find out. In the end, it didn't even matter though. Whatever he did to me, I wouldn't feel or know anything of it.

I felt myself quickly fall into unconsciousness and passed out before Jacob even got to me.


	8. Chapter 7 - Run All You Want To, But You Can't Hide

My eyes fluttered open and all I could see was pitch black aside from the little bit of light that the moon provided through a window at my left along the wall that the bed was against. I sat up and gazed around the room as I tried to figure out where I was. I knew for a fact that I wasn't in my apartment. If I was there would've been a door leading to the balcony, which there wasn't. Wherever I was only had a single window on each side of the bed.

I tried my best to remember how I got here, wherever here was. No matter how hard I tried, I continuously came up with nothing. I didn't have the slightest idea where I was, and that was not comforting knowledge by any means.

I pushed the covers off of me and slowly got out of bed, stepping into my sneakers. After picking up my cell phone and Ipod from the bedside table, which had been placed there by whoever put me in the bed, cautiously I tip-toed over to the door, grabbed the knob, and twisted it ever so slowly. I pulled the door open and peaked my head out. I looked both ways and then ahead of me.

My eyes widened and my jaw dropped suddenly.

"Holy crow!" I exclaimed to myself, taking in the sight in front of me.

I stepped out of the room and found myself standing at the top of a grand staircase.

"Where the hell am I?" I asked myself.

My question was answered when I heard voices coming from somewhere downstairs.

I quietly made my way downstairs following the sounds of the voices. I stopped when the voices were loudest and pressed myself as close to the wall as I could. I stood there for a while eavesdropping on the conversation. Most of the conversation I was hearing I couldn't have cared less about.

It wasn't until I heard my name that my interest was peaked.

"So, what are we going to do about Bella?" I heard someone ask.

I was too interested in the fact that I had heard my name that I wasn't even paying any attention to who actually said it.

Before I could stop myself, I rounded the corner and with a curiously raised eyebrow, asked, "Yeah, what are you going to do about me?"

Everyone in the room instantly turned their attentions towards me.

My eyes were instantly on Jacob. All it took was one look at him and I remembered exactly why I was here as well as where here was. My blood suddenly began to boil. Now that I was over the initial shock of Dylan being killed at the hands of Jacob, I was suddenly feeling full of rage.

"Well?" I asked as I looked Jacob dead in the eye urging him to answer me.

**~Jacob's POV~**

I hadn't expected Bella to wake up so soon, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't thrilled by it. She sure did know how to make certain situations interesting.

"Someone mustered up a lot of courage while sleeping," I said ignoring her question.

Bella shook her head and replied, "I don't need to muster up my courage. I've already got it."

I raised an eyebrow and crossed my arms across my chest. "Oh is that so?" I asked. A smirk played on my face as I added, "Because earlier today you didn't seem to have any courage."

Bella glared at me and hissed, "I was too busy freaking out after witnessing you snap Dylan's neck. So sorry if I wasn't my usual self and in my right mind at the time!"

I laughed. "You did take his death harder than one would've expected you to," I said with a hint of curiosity in my tone. "Are you sure there wasn't something going on between you two?"

Bella's eyes widened at the accusation that I had just made. She had to of known that I was only saying such things in order to get a rouse out of her. Even then it didn't stop it from being obvious that it was working. I could see Bella clench her fists at her sides.

Bella chuckled and shook her head in disbelief. "Oh, so now you're implying that I'm a slut?"

Her question took me off guard, but I quickly got a hold of myself before anyone else could see that it had.

"I never said that," I told her honestly.

"No, but by you asking me if there was something going on between me and Dylan when you know perfectly well that I'm dating Edward you were basically implying that I'm a slut," Bella pointed out to me.

She clenched her fists even tighter at her sides until her finger nails were digging painfully into the palms of her hands. I could tell that that's what she was doing because she flinched and gasped in pain.

"Hmm...I guess I did," I said as I shrugged my shoulders as if it was nothing. "You could've fooled me," I added as an afterthought not even a second later.

Bella's jaw dropped as soon as the words left my mouth. "What the hell do you mean by that?" she asked outraged more than I'd seen before.

I took a few steps towards her until we were only a few inches apart.

"I mean you're dating Edward, and yet you can't seem to stay away from me," I told her.

I smiled as I noticed her shiver when she realized that my lips were just about on hers.

Bella turned her head to the side as a way of showing me she wasn't interested...it looked more like an invitation to me.

"Fight it all you want, Bella, but it won't change the fact that you want me, and you know it," I whispered into her ear.

Bella suddenly turned back to me and informed me in a serious tone, "I want to go home...now."

I shook my head. "Sorry, but you can't do that."

"And, why the hell not?" Bella snapped as she practically glared a hole right through me.

If only looks could kill, I'd probably have been dead many times over already.

"Because, I said you can't," I told her with a frown.

She was beginning to test my patience.

"Besides, you need a key or the car button to open the front gate, and you're not getting either because you'll have to get through me before you can get them," I stated, holding up the key to the gate before placing it back into my pocket.

**~Bella's POV~**

A light bulb instantly went off in my head and I smirked to myself. I now had a plan to get myself out of here and back to the safety of the other side of the boundary line.

"Bad move, Jacob," I thought to myself as he held the key up in front of my face.

Ready. Set. Action.

"You can't tell me what I can and can't do!" I hissed, watching as the key disappeared into the front pocket of Jacob's jeans.

Jacob laughed at my outburst. "Apparently, I can. And, I will."

I screamed in frustration as I played along with my plan. "Ugh! Just let me go home!"

"And, what if I don't?" Jacob asked challenging me.

I grinned mischievously to myself as Jacob unknowingly talked himself right into my plan. My plan would work even better seeing as if he hadn't moved, and our mouths were still only inches away from each other. "I'll...I'll..." I trailed off.

I threw my plan into high gear and grabbed him by the back of his head. I pulled him closer to me and pressed my lips to Jacob's. I heard more than one gasp of surprise come from behind Jacob, and only then did I remember that the other members of Jacob's gang were in the room, too. I almost pulled away, but then remembered the plan and didn't, which almost proved to be a mistake.

When Jacob first started kissing me back, I was momentarily mesmerized by how good of a kisser he was. I almost forgot about my plan in that moment. However, I mentally scolded myself just in time and got back on track with my plan.

While I distracted Jacob by kissing him, I slowly guided my hand into the pocket of his jeans where he had put the key to the gate. I felt him grab my wrist and begin to pull my hand away.

"Darn it!" I exclaimed to herself.

I had to get that key or else who knows how long I'd be stuck there.

"Think fast," I yelled at myself.

I knew I'd regret what I was about to do, but I had to get those keys one way or another.

"Alright, here goes nothing, Bella," I coached myself.

I felt Jacob's tongue move back and forth across my bottom lip as he asked for entrance.

"It won't take long," I thought.

Taking a deep breath, I parted my lips and granted him access.

Jacob let go of my wrist immediately and focused on mapping out every part of my mouth.

I struggled to keep control over myself and not get lost in the kiss. I had to stay focused on my plan. I got a hold of myself again and slowly guided my hand to the pocket that Jacob put the key to the gate and picked it out.

I put the key safely into the pocket of my jogging jacket and gasped for air as I pulled away.

"Oh, no! I can't believe I just did that!" I exclaimed putting the finishing touches on my plan. "I...I need fresh air," I said quickly as I turned and ran out of the room.

I made a beeline for the front door. I twisted the knob, threw the door open, and ran out into the moonlit night.

**~Jacob's POV~**

I didn't think anything of it as Bella ran outside. There was no where for her to go other than around the property. Without a key, she was stuck here until I was willing to let her go. Believe it or not, it never was my intent to silence her by killing her. For what ever reason, I just couldn't bring myself to even think of that. There was just something about her...

Instinctively, I put my hand down towards my pocket and felt that the key was missing.

"Damn it!" I roared angrily. "Bella!" I yelled as I turned and ran for the front door. "Bella! GET BACK HERE NOW!"

Bella was already at the gate working on getting the padlock unlocked.

I quickened my pace as I tried to get to her before she got the lock unlocked.

Before I could get to her she screamed out a triumphant, "Yes!"

She pushed the gate open, ran outside, and slammed it shut.

The impact of the gate shutting somehow caused the padlock to lock itself back.

"Damn!" I hissed as I stopped right in front of the gate.

"Look who has the key now?" Bella said with a mischievous grin as she held up the key. "Surely you have an extra, right?"

She spared one last look at me before she turned and ran off down the sidewalk.

"Bella!" I yelled after her as she rounded the corner and disappeared into the night.

I was beyond angry now.

I turned back to the house and stormed up the walk way to get the extra key.

There was no way in hell that I'd let her have the last word, action, or whatever tonight.

**~Bella's POV~**

I didn't stop running until my legs gave out from underneath my about two blocks down from Jacob's mansion. It took some time for me to catch my breath. I looked around to see where I was. The realization that I was lost hit me like a ton of bricks.

"Darn it!" I exclaimed out loud.

I wasn't just lost, I was also being chased by Jacob and his gang. Ever since I got the upper hand on him I'd gotten at least ten or more angry, threatening calls from him. The most recent being the, "You can run, but you can't hide," call. I had found it funny at first, but now...it wasn't very funny anymore. More so now that I was back in panic mode.

I pulled my cell phone back out and dialed Edward's number.

I knew fully well the danger that I was about to put him in, but I had no choice. I sure as hell wasn't going to call my brother and have him find out what had been going on for a while now. I wasn't going to call Alice and drag her into all of this mess either.

"What kind of a friend would I be if I did that?" I asked myself. "Not a good one that's for sure."

This was the worst of the worst. The universe must be against me right now.

"Pick up Edward! Come on! Pick up!" I exclaimed as the phone began to ring.

After three rings he answered, "Bella! Are you okay? Everyone has been worried sick about you!"

"Not now Edward!" I exclaimed as I double checked my surroundings to make sure that I was still alone. "I need you to come pick me up!" I said in a rushed tone.

"Where are you?" he asked curiously over the phone.

"Lost," I answered.

"Look around, Bella," he ordered. "Do you see anything familiar?"

"Umm...hold on a second," I said before I glanced around for street signs.

Instead of street signs, the music and different colored strobe lights coming from a block towards the north helped me pin point where I was exactly. "Wait, maybe I'm not lost after all." I sighed a sigh of relief. "I'm a block past Mansion."

"What? That's on Jacob Black's territory!" Edward exclaimed in shock.

I rolled my eyes and shook my head.

"Please just hurry up Edward!" I pleaded just as I heard the sound of footsteps.

My eyes widened and I spoke in a whisper that only Edward would be able to hear, "Oh god! Please hurry Edward. Wait for me at Mansion and text me as soon as you get there. I have to go!"

"Wh..." Edward trailed off when I hung up on him.

I put my phone back into my pocket and scanned the streets for somewhere to hide until I got the text from Edward. Jacob had told me that I can run but I can't hide...me being me, of course, I was determined to prove him wrong.

The footsteps grew closer and closer, I had to think fast. I saw no other option than to dive behind some nearby bushes and crouch down so that's exactly what I did. Luckily, my position behind the bushes gave me a perfect view of the streets without giving my hiding place away.

I slowed down my breathing as Jacob and his gang finally came into view. I couldn't afford to blow my cover, especially now of all times. In order to survive the night in one piece, I had to stay hidden.

I could only imagine what Jacob would do to her if he found me. I sure as hell didn't want any of my thoughts to come true 'cause none of them were good by any means.

"Bella! I know you're around here somewhere!" I heard Jacob yell.

I bit my lower lip nervously while I shook involuntarily.

"Come out, come out wherever you are!" he called out in an enticing manner.

I stayed absolutely silent and still. One wrong move or sound and all hell was sure to break loose. I just had to wait a little bit longer for Edward to text me. After that all I'd have to do is run one more block and I'd finally be free again. I snapped my eyes shut and took a deep breath.

"Just a little bit longer, Bella," I told myself.

My eyes flew back open when I heard Jacob speak again slightly closer to me than before.

"Why don't you just come out now and make it easier on the both of us?" Jacob suggested in a questioning tone. "Quit putting off the inevitable."

"Be smart Bella don't move a muscle," I told myself as I fought to keep myself under control.

For the next ten minutes, Jacob continued to say many different things to entice me out of me hiding place, but I didn't take the bait.

Everything was going good until my phone went off signaling that I had a text.

"Darn!" I exclaimed as I hear my phone go off. "Why didn't I put it on vibrate?"

I quickly pushed the red call button to shut it up.

Unfortunately, Jacob and his gang had all already heard it because they suddenly grew silent.

I was afraid to look through the small opening of the bushes to see where everyone was, but I did it anyways.

"Did you hear that?" I saw and heard Seth ask.

"It sounded like a phone went off," Quil said as he looked around.

Embry nodded his head towards where I was hiding. "Sounded like it came from over there," he replied.

My breath caught in my throat as I saw them all turn to look at my hiding place.

Jacob slowly stalked towards where I was. "Bella, Bella, Bella," Jacob smirked.

I moaned fearfully.

"I told you…you can run, but you can't hide, did I not?" he asked as he stopped only a few feet away from the bushes giving me the chance to come out from behind the bushes myself before he decided to pull me out himself.

I thought that all hope was lost until I remembered that I still had the key that helped me escape in my pocket. Without a second thought, I grabbed the key from my pocket, stood up abruptly, and threw the key towards him. He took his eyes off of me just long enough for me to make a run for it.

For the second time tonight, I ran as fast as I could. I looked behind me and screamed when I saw that they weren't far behind me. By throwing the key I caused a long enough distraction to make a break for it, but I'm not sure that it was a long enough distraction for me to get to safety before they caught up to me.

Even having to run through a crowd of people waiting to get into Mansion didn't stop me from running until I made it to Edward's car. I made it to Edward's car and grabbed the door handle without hesitation. I swung open the door and dove in, slamming it closed behind me.

I looked in the direction that I had just come from and was shocked to find just how close I had been to being screwed. If it hadn't been for the crowd of people who I had to run through they would have no doubt caught up to me.

"Go! Go! Go!" I screamed at Edward who gave me a confused look from the driver's seat.

He opened his mouth to say something, but I cut him off.

"Edward! Put your foot to the pedal, and freaking get us out of here!" I hissed out an order.

He obeyed this time and looked forward at the road as he put his car in drive and sped off down the avenue.

I turned around in my seat and watched as Jacob and his gang disappeared as Edward drove farther down the road. When we were completely out of sight, I turned back around and let out a breath that I didn't even realize I was holding in.

I breathed a breath of relief. "That was a close one."

"What the hell just happened Bella?" Edward asked once we were a few miles down the road.

I leaned the seat back and closed my eyes.

"I'll tell you everything tomorrow. I just want to sleep right now," I said before I fell asleep without any trouble at all.


	9. Chapter 8 - Careful, There's A Bullseye On Your Back

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a quick heads up, I'm bringing a new person into the story this chapter. I just want you all to know that I'm not bringing her in for nothing...there is a reason for her, I promise!
> 
> There's no Jacob in this chapter, but he'll be back soon.

For the first time in weeks, I woke up the next day feeling surprisingly, for lack of a better term, satisfied. I looked over at the clock on my night stand, it read 12:30pm. I smiled once I realized that I had slept without having a single dream or nightmare starring the one and only Jacob Black.

I got out of bed and made my way into my bathroom to take a shower. After everything that had transpired the night before, I had fallen asleep the first chance I got. So I didn't get a chance to shower before going to bed. I could only think of one person to blame for that...but I wasn't going to think of his name and ruin my so far good day.

That didn't stop my anger from making an appearance though. All  _he_  had to do was let me go when I asked him to. But no, he just had to go and make matters worse than they had to be. Sometimes I couldn't help but notice that for a guy who is supposed to be one of the most feared gang leaders in Miami he sure did act like a kid at times. He may not be able to notice that fact, but I surely do.

After a long, relaxing shower I shimmied into a pair of blue jean shorts, threw on a red and white striped tank top, and slipped into my favorite pair of sneakers. I sprayed my Twisted Peppermint body spray in the doorway of my bedroom after opening the door and walked through it doing a little spin so that it'd get all over me.

I made my way out into the kitchen with a big smile on my face.

"Well, someone seems rather cheerful today," Alice laughed watching me intently as I did a little dance while making myself a cup of coffee.

I shrugged my shoulders. "What can I say? I guess I caught the happy go lucky vibe for the day."

To be honest, I had no idea why I was so happy today. A normal person would still be shaken up about what had happened to them the night before, but the events weren't affecting me in that way for some reason.

Alice raised an eyebrow out of curiosity as I turned around and walked over to the kitchen table, sitting down across from her.

"I would've thought you'd be freaked out or something today," Alice said.

It was my turn to raise an eyebrow. "What do you mean?" I asked curiously.

"When Edward brought you in last night he told me that when he picked you up you were anxious to get out of there and shaken up about something," Alice answered honestly. "What happened last night?"

I bit my lower lip and then took a sip of my coffee.

"Should I tell her the truth?" I asked myself. "Why not? I can trust Alice."

We'd been friends ever since we were kids growing up in places such as Bulgaria, France, Brazil, and Panama. Dad was and still is in the army. Hell, we technically had been like sisters ever since my parents adopted Alice after her parents passed away in a car accident when she was six years old.

I sighed and decided that I could tell Alice the truth. I really did trust her to keep what I was about to tell her a secret from Emmett and anyone associated with Emmett. Alice rarely had anything to do with any of them, anyways.

I sat up straight and looked across the table. "You can not tell a single soul what I'm about to tell you right now," I told Alice looking her dead in her eyes. "This stays in this apartment."

"My lips are sealed," Alice assured me, dragging a fake key across her lips and throwing it away.

I couldn't help but laugh for a moment.

But that lasted for only a few seconds until I went into serious mode.

I started off by telling Alice about how I had witnessed Jacob kill Dylan, and how he had told me not to tell anyone at all, but I trusted Alice enough to not let anyone know that I had told her what had happened. Alice knew just as much as I did what would happen if she blabbed this to anyone.

"I'm glad you trust me! I swear I won't tell anyone because if I do I'm on the line now, too," Alice informed me causing my eyes to go wide.

"Oh shit!" I exclaimed. "I didn't even think about that! I'm so sorry," I apologized suddenly feeling bad.

"No, no, Bella! I'm glad you told me. You no longer have to carry the weight of being the only one who knows the truth on your shoulders," Alice said with a brief smile. "Go on," she urged me to continue.

I nodded before I continued telling the tale. I told her about my panic attack and how I woke up at Jacob's mansion only to have to kiss him in order to steal the key to get out of the gated yard.

Alice couldn't keep herself from laughing once I was finished telling her that part of the events.

"You seriously one upped, Jacob freaking Black?" Alice asked in disbelief as she laughed uncontrollably, leaning over the kitchen table holding her stomach because it hurt from all the laughing she was doing.

I smirked and shook my head. "I did! I, Isabella Marie McCarty, one upped Jacob freaking Black!" I boasted throwing my hands up in the air triumphantly.

"That is epic!" Alice exclaimed coming down from her laughing high. "Alright, you can continue," she said once she was again in full control of herself.

"Might as well," I said before telling Alice about what happened after I escaped up until the point where I fell asleep as soon as I got into Edward's truck due to exhaustion.

Once I was finished telling Alice the entire tale of what happened last night, her jaw was practically on the floor.

I had to admit that I did feel like a bit of the weight on my shoulders was lifted off after I told Alice about last night's events. Apparently, telling someone everything was exactly what I needed. Maybe, I was so happy today because deep down inside I knew that if I told Alice the truth that this is what it would result in?

"It's plausible," I thought to myself.

**~Alice's POV~**

After Bella finished telling me everything that happened, I was speechless. I couldn't help but wonder how Bella stayed as calm as she did for so long. If it had been me who was in Bella's place, I would've been royally screwed to put it bluntly. I had to give it to Bella...she handled it way better than I ever would have and could have imagined.

"You had a really eventful night last night," I said after I got my voice back still trying to process everything in her mind.

Bella nodded and replied, "I sure did."

"You're not worried that Jacob's planning some sort of revenge on you?" I wondered not being able to stop myself from asking the question.

Bella shrugged her shoulders. "If he is, he is," she said simply. "There's nothing I can do about it other than be careful. I'm not going to stop living my life just because there is a possibility that he's after me for revenge now," Bella told me honestly as she stood up from the table. "Well, I'm going to go shop at Biscayne Bay," Bella said with a smile pushing her chair in.

There was no doubt that Bella was in a very good mood today. For as long as I'd known her, shopping was always last on her list of things to do...unless she was in a very good mood.

"Wanna come with?" she asked.

I rolled my eyes and smiled standing and pushing my chair in as well.

"Do you even have to ask?" I answered with my own question, turning and going to my bedroom. "Just let me go put something on other than my pajamas and get my purse. I'll be right out," I said disappearing into my room.

"Okay," Bella replied.

I quickly changed my clothes, grabbed my purse, and went back out into the living room.

"Alright, I'm ready to go, Bella!" I called out.

Bella walked out of her room and smiled, "Let's go then."

**~Rosalie's POV~**

I walked down the semi crowded streets of Miami South, as I called it, glad to finally be on land and breathing fresh air again. After two hours and fifty five minutes stuck on a plane, fresh air was exactly what I needed. It didn't help either that I wasn't big on flying. If it hadn't been for my anxiety medication, I would have no doubt freaked out on the plane.

I was in town to pay a surprise visit to my cousin and her best friend. Before they had moved to Miami the two of them and I had been inseparable. Together the three of us had been known as the clique of girls that no one wanted to mess with.

I smiled to herself at the memories of the three of them ruling the streets and schools of Panama City. I was looking forward to being able to relive the good old times with them.

After all, Miami and Panama City were practically sister cities. Some people say Panama City is the second Miami while others say that Miami is the second Panama City. Either way they both meant the same thing and they were both right.

I heard someone suddenly clear their throat, successfully breaking me out of my thoughts. I came back to reality and stopped mid step when I saw three guys standing in front of me, blocking me from going any further.

I sighed and crossed my arms over my chest. I didn't feel like being bothered right now. To be honest, I wasn't too much of a people person.

"Can I help you?" I asked in an annoyed tone.

"How come we've never seen you around here before?" one of them asked.

I rolled my eyes and answered simply, "I'm only visiting."

"From where?" another one questioned.

"None of your business," I answered, not in the mood for twenty personal questions.

"Harsh," the third one snickered.

"What's your name?" the first boy that spoke asked.

I couldn't help but feel like I was being interrogated, so I answered with a smartass question of my own, "What's it to you?"

All three boys smirked.

"Feisty, just the way we like them," they all said in unison.

I rolled my eyes again and scoffed.

"I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours first," I compromised.

I always refused to ever give anything unless I knew that I would get something back.

"Fair enough, I guess," the third one said before introducing the three of them. "I'm Embry, that's Quil, and that's Seth."

All of a sudden, I perked up and was more invested in the three guys in front of me.

"Wait a second...you three wouldn't by any chance be the three right hand guys of Jacob Black, would you?" I asked, wanting to make sure I wasn't just hearing things.

"So, you've heard of us then?" Quil asked with a smirk.

I chuckled darkly and answered, "I have...not that that's a good thing."

They all gave me a look that I had no trouble ignoring.

"My cousin has mentioned Jacob and the three of you a few times before," I informed them. "Nothing good, though," I added a few seconds later as an afterthought.

"We wouldn't want it any other way," Seth said honestly with a grin on his face.

"Do you and your cousin have names?" Embry asked curiously.

I scrunched up my eyebrows. "Maybe."

"Why don't tell us them?" Quil said getting impatient.

I rolled my eyes for what had to be the third or fourth time.

There was really no point in denying the inevitable any longer. I was going to have to tell them my name sooner or later, and judging by the way my cousin talked about them surely they would already know who I was.

"Rosalie, and my cousin's name is Bella," I said with my arms still crossed securely across my chest.

The smirks on all three of their faces grew at the sound of Bella's name. They all exchanged looks with each other and then focused back on me.

I raised an eyebrow curiously and asked already knowing the answer, "I take it that you know my cousin?"

"Somewhat," Seth answered speaking first.

"Our boss is a lot more acquainted with her than we are," Quil informed me.

"Speaking of which, give your cousin a message from Jacob will you..." Embry trailed off waiting for me to give him the go ahead to continue on.

I dropped my hands to my side, shrugging my shoulders. "Sure, whatever," I said clearly disinterested.

"Let her know that Jacob is extremely pissed off at her right now, and that it'd be wise for her to watch her back," Embry finished what he had started moments ago.

"Also, when Jacob decides to come after her she won't see him coming," Quil added onto what Embry had said.

"Be sure to tell her all of that," Seth said. "You wouldn't want to be the reason your cousin gets hurt or something...would you, Rosalie?" he asked, my name rolling off of his tongue in an eery way.

"Sounds like a threat to me." I glared at them. "But yeah I'll make sure that she gets the message," I said looking from one of them to another before stepping forward. "So, is that all?" I asked anxious to get as far away from them as possible.

Embry, Quil, and Seth all moved out of the way to let me by.

"Thanks," I muttered before walking past them.

I laughed to myself when I sensed all three of them watching me and looking me up and down as if I was the prize for winning some big contest. I shook my head as I turned the corner and disappeared down the sidewalk out of view of the guys.

**~Bella's POV~**

Alice and I hadn't been shopping for more than half an hour when my phone rang. I stopped walking for a moment to pull my cell phone out of my purse and looked at the Caller ID. A smile lit up my face at the sight of Roaslie's name on the screen.

"Why was she calling me now though?" I asked myself. "She never calls this early in the day."

I curiously pushed the green talk button. "Hey, Rosalie!"

"Bella, how are you?" Rosalie asked from the other end of the phone.

"I'm good, just shopping with Alice at Biscayne Bay Marketplace. You?" I answered with my own question at the end.

"I'm good, too," she replied. "I'm enjoying the sun and shopping a little bit myself today," Rosalie said, a smile could practically be seen on her face over the phone.

By the way she was talking, I knew right away that she was up to something.

Bella shrugged her shoulders at Alice when she looked at her and raised an eyebrow mouthing, "What's going on?"

"Why are you calling me at this time of day?" I wondered as I slowly started walking down the sidewalk with Alice next to me.

"Can't I call my favorite cousin and see how she's doing every once in a while?" Rosalie questioned answering me with a smartass remark.

I laughed and told her honestly, "No, not at this time of day."

Rosalie sighed and then said, "Well, I guess that you don't want to know what your surprise is."

I was immediately confused. What the hell was Rosalie talking about?

"What surprise? You know I hate surprises!" I reminded her in a scolding tone.

"Surprise?" Alice asked just as confused as I was.

I looked at Alice and gave her a look that basically said, "It beats me."

"What is she talking about?" Alice asked curiously.

I shrugged my shoulders and admitted, "I honestly have no idea what she's even talking about."

"I'm sure you'll love this one," Rosalie said hearing everything that Alice and I were saying.

"You think I'll love it? Wh.." I started to ask, but was quickly cut off by Rosalie.

"Just turn around, Bella," Rosalie demanded.

"Why?" I asked even more confused than before,

"Just do it!" Rosalie exclaimed.

I rolled my eyes before giving in and turning around. I gasped when I saw Rosalie standing only a few feet away.

"You bitch!" I exclaimed, not being able to stop the curse word from coming out.

I ended the call and threw my phone back into my purse before running over to Rosalie and pulling her into a hug with Alice following close behind.

"What are you doing here?" I asked when we pulled away from each other.

"I'm taking a break from school and decided to pay you two a visit," she answered looking past me at Alice. "Hey, Alice," Rosalie smiled brightly.

"Rosalie," Alice smiled back at her.

Ever since Alice had been adopted into the family she had become close to all of us. She was like a little sister to Jasper, Emmett, and I, a cousin to Rosalie, and even a second daughter to my parents.

"So, how long are you going to be staying here for?" I asked out of curiosity.

"I'm not quite sure, I haven't decided yet," she answered truthfully. "So, are you willing to put up with me and lend me your guest room for a while?"

"Of course!" Alice answered before I could.

"Emmett will just have to sleep on the couch whenever he decides to stay over," I said answering her in her own way.

Rosalie was suddenly serious when I mentioned Emmett.

"Speaking of which I ran into umm..." she trailed off for a moment. "Embry, Quil, and Seth on my way here," Rosalie finished informing Alice and me.

My eyes grew wide and the smile I had on my face just seconds ago was no longer there.

It was no secret to anyone in Miami that running into any gang member from either the north or south side was not a good thing. If anything running into a gang member from either gang was a curse that was only then beginning.

"Do they know that you're Bella's cousin?" Alice asked with slight worry in her voice as she stepped forward so that she was standing right next to me.

Rosalie nodded her head.

"What did they say?" I asked, crossing my arms across my chest. "Did they mention Jacob by any chance?" I asked, not sure why I even cared.

"Yeah, they told me to give you a message from Jacob," Rosalie answered biting her lower lip.

I drew in a deep breath.

I had a feeling that something similar to this would happen one of these days. I couldn't help but think that if Rosalie hadn't run into Embry, Quil, and Seth when she did...then most likely they would have come and told me themselves. Jacob probably told them to tell me themselves anyways, so why would they tell Rosalie instead of following their orders? Maybe they were just trying to mess with my head...it wouldn't surprise me at all.

"What was the message?" I asked when I came back to reality.

Rosalie took in a breath and let it out slowly before she answered, "They said that Jacob wanted you to know that he's extremely pissed at you right now and that you better watch your back."

I shook my head in disbelief and muttered, "Un-freaking-believable!"

Without another word, I stalked off leaving Rosalie and Alice behind.

**~Rosalie's POV~**

Alice and I watched as Bella stormed off without a word. We watched her go in confusion, wondering where exactly she was going. She wasn't far enough out of her mind to actually go and confront Jacob. Or was she? Damn, yes she was.

I looked at Alice and she looked back at me.

Both of us had eyes as wide as saucers.

We both knew Bella well enough to know that that's exactly what she was going to do.

Neither of us wanted Bella to make a mistake and maybe walk right into a trap set by Jacob on accident so we ran to catch up with her. We had to try to stop her no matter how much she might hate us for it afterwards. She'd come to thank us one of these days...hopefully.


	10. Chapter 9 - Everyone Has A Boiling Point

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jacob returns in this chapter!

"Bella, stop!" Alice yelled.

"Wait for us!" I exclaimed as Alice and I proceeded to chase her down the sidewalk.

She shook her head no and kept on walking.

"It's probably a trap!" Alice called after her, panicking.

I glanced over at her and corrected her. "I don't think there's any probably to it."

Alice thought about it briefly before agreeing with me. "This is so not good," she whined.

"How do we stop Bella now?" I asked not sure what to do.

Alice shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. You know how Bella is when she's like this."

She was right...I knew, she knew...everyone knew how Bella was when she was like this. I had practically grown up with Bella, I knew her well enough to know that once she set her mind to something there wasn't much that could be done to change it. She could be annoyingly stubborn at times...this being one of them.

"Bella! It's a trap!" Alice yelled, jogging faster to try to catch up with Bella.

I shook my head as I followed suit. "I haven't even been in Miami for more than an hour and  _this_ happened," I thought to myself. "I should feel so lucky...there's never a dull moment in the life of the McCarty's."

**~Bella's POV~**

I stalked angrily through the streets of Miami heading straight for the boundary line. If I was in my right mind I would've realized that doing that was putting me in potential danger. I obviously wasn't in my right mind...not since Rosalie had given me the message that Jacob had told his three minions, I'd rather not think of their names, to give me.

The last thing on my mind at the moment was what danger I was most likely putting myself in. Right now all I could think about was giving Jacob a piece of my mind. Jacob was about to find out that I'm not as easy to scare as the rest of Miami's population. It would take more than a few threats and me witnessing him killing Dylan to scare me...cause me to panic, yes...scare me, no.

For someone who was suppose to be as scary and dangerous as him he sure didn't act like it sometimes. If Jacob wanted to give me a message then he should have grown a freaking pair and told me his message himself. I always believed that only cowards sent others to do their dirty work...threatening me, in my mind, was classified as dirty work.

I was less than a mile from the boundary line when Rosalie and Alice finally caught up to me. One would think that the two of them would have been able to catch up with me sooner than they did since they were jogging and I was speed walking, but after a distraction by a pair of shoes in a store window...they had a minor set back.

"Bella!" Alice yelled after me.

"Wait for us!" Rosalie exclaimed just seconds later.

"It's probably a trap!" Alice called out in a panic.

That didn't slow me down in even the slightest. I knew it was probably a trap but that gave me an advantage. I was expecting any and everything that he would try...I would not be surprised. Everyone should give me more credit than they're giving me.

I shook my head no and continued walking. I was only half a mile from the boundary line, which meant that I was getting close to being able to let all of my anger out. It would have all been a complete big waste of time if I didn't go through with what I planned on doing all along.

Before I knew what was happening, I felt two hands grab each of my arms and pull me to a screeching halt. I took a deep breath to calm myself down so that I wouldn't break free of what I knew to be Alice and Rosalie's grasps and possibly knock their heads together for setting my need to let loose back longer.

"What the hell you two?" I asked angrily instead of using violence like I so badly wanted to at the moment. "Let me go!" I exclaimed, yanking my arms hard causing Rosalie and Alice to both lose their grasps on me.

"You're being really stupid right now!" Alice yelled at me in the same tone of voice that I used on her and Rosalie as the two of them stepped in front of me, facing me.

"You're just letting anger make your decisions for you!" Rosalie told me in disgust.

**~Rosalie's POV~**

I was absolutely disgusted by my cousin because I knew that Bella already knew from experience that letting anger take control of her judgment only lead to major trouble and or disappointment. She obviously wasn't in her right mind right now and that could very possibly be her downfall.

Bella laughed in amusement. "Let's just get one thing straight! Anger is not making my decisions for me! What I'm getting ready to do now has been about two weeks in the making, and I'm just now going through with it!" Bella informed both Alice and I matter-of-factly. "Mark my words! Jacob is going to realize that I'm not like most girls! He can't have me and he sure as hell won't scare me like he does all of the other girls he beds on a fucking daily basis in this city!" Bella hissed losing it completely.

Alice and I both backed away from Bella shocked at her sudden breakdown. I could tell by the look on Alice's face that she was aware that Bella was bound to lose it sooner or later, but she just didn't think it'd be this soon. I could only conclude that Bella had officially reached her boiling point and it was all because of the one and only Jacob Black.

I looked at Alice with a look that asked, "What the hell is all of this about?"

Alice mouthed back to me, "I'll tell you all about it later."

Rosalie nodded in understanding and then we both turned and looked back at Bella.

"I'm doing this...and neither of you can stop me," Bella told us seriously.

"Ugh!" I exclaimed throwing my arms up in defeat. "Are you trying to get yourself killed?" I asked not wanting to believe for even a second that Bella could really be this stupid.

Bella rolled her eyes. "I'm not going to get myself killed! I know what I'm doing!" Bella assured me. "If I didn't then I wouldn't be doing this at all," she added a few seconds later.

Alice scoffed sharing my disbelief. "You could've fooled me."

Bella turned her head and looked at Alice. "Funny...that's the exact same thing Jacob told me when he implied that I'm a slut last night," Bella said glaring at her best friend.

Alice's eyes widened and she bit her lower lip as she swallowed the newly formed lump in her throat. "You didn't mention that part earlier," Alice mumbled quietly looking down at her feet to avoid sharing any further eye contact with Bella.

"Are either of you going to try and stop me?" Bella asked daringly, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Why should we waste our breath?" I answered with my own question seeing no point in trying to stop Bella since her mind was already made up.

Alice just nodded in agreement with me.

"Alright, then. You can choose whether to come with me or not," Bella said turning around and once again making her way to the boundary line.

Alice finally looked up and we looked at each other. Both of us nodded after exchanging the same glances and ran to catch up with Bella again. We knew that we couldn't stop Bella from going through with her plan to confront Jacob, but we could at least go with her to provide back up if needed. Bella was a force to be reckoned with on her own, but with all three of us together the force only grew stronger. Besides in a situation like this friends don't just leave their friends and family to deal with it on their own.

**~Bella's POV~**

It only took the three of us another five minutes or so to get to the boundary line. I had no clue where to look for Jacob first. He ruled the entire south side, he could be anywhere. I looked around and tried to think of where he would be. He usually just showed up out of nowhere when I was on his side of the line, but so far I didn't see him anywhere.

"Alright, he's not here! Let's go," Rosalie exclaimed quickly from where she stood at my right.

"Yeah, he's not here," Alice agreed with Rosalie almost as soon as Rosalie had spoken. "We should get out of here before we encounter other members of his gang."

"I'm not going anywhere," I told them.

Rosalie and Alice looked at me like I was insane.

"Did you not hear what I just said?" Alice asked shocked that I still wanted to stay even after she said it was a possibility that we'd run into other members of his gang.

"I'm not leaving until I do what I came here to do!" I snapped in an annoyed tone. "Do you not know me at all?!"

I thought that by now Rosalie and Alice would have gotten the memo that I wasn't going to back down now. My mind was set and nothing would ever change it…this was going to happen one way or another. I was going to speak my peace and relieve myself of as much of the weight on my shoulders as I could.

"I take it you're here looking for Jacob," a voice said from behind us, causing all three of us to jump in surprise.

We all did 360 spins on our heels and came face to face with Embry, Quil, and Seth. The three of them seemed to be everywhere I went lately. When I found out that Rosalie had encountered them, I realized that the three guys really were showing up everywhere now...weirdly enough a lot more than Jacob.

"Where is he?" I asked being the first one to speak.

"He's taking care of some business right now," Embry answered as he and the other two guys all took a step forward.

"You can come wait for him at the mansion," Quil suggested with a smirk.

"NO!" Rosalie and Alice both exclaimed instantly.

I looked at them both and then back at the guys, mainly Quil.

"How stupid do you think I am?" I asked with a brief laugh.

"I don't know what you mean," he said playing dumb and failing miserably at it.

I didn't buy it for even a second.

"You know damn well what I mean!" I hissed through clenched teeth. "You don't really think that I'd ever step foot in those gates again, do you?" I asked rhetorically.

"You're going to be waiting for him for quite a while," Seth informed us.

I shrugged my shoulders and said, "I've got a lot of time on my hands today."

Rosalie and Alice sighed a frustrated sigh in unison.

I looked from my best friend to my cousin. "You two don't have to stay here with me."

The two of them laughed in mock amusement.

"Yeah, right...with how angry you are right now we have to stay and make sure you don't do anything stupid," Alice said looking at me for the first time since the earlier incident.

"Well...stupider than this," Rosalie corrected Alice.

"Yeah, what Rosalie said," Alice agreed.

"I'll call Jacob and let him know you're waiting for him," Embry said bringing my attention to him.

I smirked as I suddenly thought of something. "I've got a better idea, why don't I?" I questioned, remembering that Jacob's number was in my phone.

"You have Jacob's number?" Seth asked obviously having no prior knowledge of the fact.

"I'm surprised he didn't tell you that he put it in my contacts when I dropped it that first night I encountered him," I answered with a nod of my head.

"Jacob doesn't tell us everything," Quil informed me.

"What a shocker," I said not even pretending to care.

I pulled out my cell phone and pushed the contacts button, scrolling down to Jacob's number and pressing the green talk button.

Jacob answered after three rings.

"Bella, what do I owe to this call?" he asked...his voice gave way to a smirk clearly on his face.

"I need to talk to you," I answered cutting straight to the point. "Once you're finished with whatever business you're doing meet me at the boundary line," I told him before hanging up on him without giving him a chance to speak again.

I smirked as I put my phone away.

"Now I understand what Jacob sees in you," Seth spoke up.

I turned my head and looked towards him to see that he was grinning from ear to ear.

I raised an eyebrow and asked, "Oh really? And, what's that?"

"You're extremely feisty," he answered his grin growing.

I laughed and grinned a grin that matched his before saying, "Well, that's just too bad. He can see whatever he wants to see in me...but he'll never have me."

Everyone looked at me after I said that.

"You say that now," Quil laughed.

"But...Jacob wants you and he's determined to make you his," Seth added on.

"And...Jacob always gets what he wants," Embry finished the thought.

"Well, he's just going to have to get over it because I am never going to be his," I hissed determined to get my point across.

If Jacob refused to believe it, then maybe just maybe I could get someone else to believe it. I would never be Jacob's and somehow, someway...someone would have to make him see that. If only I could get Embry, Quil, and Seth to believe it then maybe they could get Jacob to believe it, too.

**~Jacob's POV~**

It was around 5:00, 5:30 when I finished up what I was doing and made my way to the boundary line where Bella was anxiously waiting for me. I was curious as to what she wanted. After all, it was usually me who tracked her down...not the other way around. I could only come up with the reason of her knowing I went through her cousin to get a message to her...yeah, that would definitely get her going.

"About damn time!" Bella exclaimed the second she saw me walking up to her.

"Excited to see me?" I asked with my usual smirk on my face.

Bella laughed and then scoffed, "You wish!"

She crossed her arms across her chest when I walked up to her. She waited until I was standing right in front of her before she smirked and mimicked my words from a few days ago, "Excited isn't the right word...pissed is a better one."

"I take it you got my message?" I asked suddenly losing my smirk and replacing it with a scowl.

"Oh, you mean the one where you're pissed at me for what happened last night and that I better watch my back?" she replied sarcastically. "Yeah, I got the message," she hissed through clenched teeth. "And, now I'm pissed off as well!"

"I guess now it's just the matter of who's more pissed off, isn't it?" I asked, cocking an eyebrow.

Bella chuckled and nodded her head.

"I'm one hundred and ten percent positive that I'm more pissed at you then you are at me because you're the one who made what I did last night possible in the first place!" she snarled, glaring at me...if only looks could kill.

I stepped forward until my face was only inches from hers. "Oh, really? How exactly am I the one who made your actions possible last night?"

Bella laughed and said in a sarcastic tone, "Because when I kissed you last night I really did mean to do it."

"You kissed him?" a voice yelled in shock causing Bella and I to both turn our heads in the direction the voice came from.

"Alice! Not now!" Bella snapped. "Keep your comments to yourself!" she hissed, surely not meaning to come off as mean as she did.

Alice put her hands up and stepped back mumbling a quick, "Sorry."

"How the fuck did you kissing me make last nights events my fault?" I asked turning everyone's attention back to the current subject.

"You actually thought I was kissing you because I wanted to!" Bella exclaimed answering my question. "After everything you've done in the past two weeks that I've known you...did you really think I'd kiss you if I didn't have to?"

My smirk was back on my face in that instant as I ignored her question and said, "You know you liked it."

"Ugh!" Bella sighed a frustrated sigh slapping one her palms to her forehead and turning to look away from me.

It was only a few seconds later when she turned back around only to yell, "You're such a dumbass! I did not like it! I just did what I had to do in order to get the key to the front gate and get the fuck out of there!"

"You expect me to believe that you didn't like it?" I asked in disbelief. "No girl ever kisses me and doesn't like it," I said, bragging in order to make my point.

"Until now!" Bella exclaimed quickly refusing to let me have the last word.

"You know damn well that you liked it and just to prove my point..." I trailed off causing Bella to raise an eyebrow wondering what I was going to do.

I would prove it to her that she liked it.

"Wha..." Bella started to ask, but was suddenly cut off by me grabbing her by the back of her head roughly and pulling her in for a passionate, bruising kiss.

**~Bella's POV~**

I was so shocked at first that I was frozen in place. I just stood there as Jacob pressed his lips as hard onto mine as he possibly could. His tongue trailed back and forth across the seam of my lips and I couldn't help but part them. His tongue entered my mouth the second my lips parted.

As much as I didn't want to admit it, Jacob really was a good kisser. But just like last night Jacob could not know that I really liked it. Otherwise, I would be completely screwed. The last thing I needed was for Jacob to know my guilty pleasure secret...I enjoyed kissing him...a lot!

I quickly came back to realit and tried to pull away from him, but Jacob's hand on the back of my head was holding us close together. I began kicking and punching to break free, Jacob's hold on me never loosened once...it only tightened.

I began to panic and ended up doing the only thing that I could think of that would without a doubt break his hold on me. I counted to three in my head and kneed him as hard as I could in the one place that I knew it would hurt the most.

Jacob's hold on my broke immediately and he fell to the ground hissing out in pain.

"Oh shit!" I heard Rosalie and Alice both exclaim in shock behind me.

My eyes widened when I saw and heard him fall to the ground. I couldn't believe that I had actually just done what I did. In my defense, I had panicked and when I panic I do things that I wouldn't normally do...basically anger and panicking came hand in hand with me...they both ended up having the same effects on me.

I quickly backed away from Jacob just as Embry, Quil, and Seth came running over. I wasn't up for sticking around and suffering the consequences when Jacob finally was able to get up so I turned and ran for the hills...or in this case the safe side of the boundary line.

"Let's go girls! Run! Run! Run!" I yelled as I passed Rosalie and Alice who both didn't have to be told twice as they started running after me.

Well, Rosalie and Alice were right about one thing...I was definitely going to regret coming here later. In a way, I kind of already was. I was not at all looking forward to what Jacob would have in store for me next. I think I can honestly say now that I'm just a tiny bit scared of what's to come.

Fuck my life...no really...Fuck my life!


	11. Chapter 10 - Drinking + Bad Boy = Big Mistake

I didn't stop running until I ran into my apartment followed moments later by Alice and Rosalie. I still couldn't process through my head what I had just done. Was I crazy? Mentally insane? Out of my freaking mind? At the moment the answer would probably be all of the above. What the hell had I been thinking when I kicked Jacob where I knew it'd hurt him the most?

"I can not believe you did that!" Alice exclaimed as she fought to regain her breathe.

"Talk about a spur of the moment decision," Rosalie laughed, slamming the apartment door closed.

I threw myself down face first onto the couch. Yeah, my actions had been a spur of the moment decision alright. A spur of a moment decision that obviously only made things that much worse. It didn't take a genius to realize that one. Maybe Rosalie had been right all along about me letting anger make my decisions for me.

"It's not funny Rosalie!" I practically yelled, forcing myself to stand up and face my cousin. "My actions just ruined everything more than it already is! Jacob may have been pissed at me because of last night's events earlier, but now it doesn't take a genius to realize that he's probably fucking furious at me now!"

"Bella, you need to calm yourself down now," Rosalie and Alice both said in unison as they took a step closer to me.

"Calm down? How the hell am I suppose to calm after what I just did?" I asked as I knelt on the couch, putting my head in my hands as I leaned forward on the back of the couch before rocking myself back and forth.

I could feel Rosalie and Alice both watching me intently. They were probably in shock about how I was acting. Never in a million years would they have thought that they'd ever see me in the state that I was in now. I was acting completely unlike myself. What the hell had happened to the Bella that the two of them had grown up knowing all of a sudden? Up until now, I usually wasn't scared of the consequences of my actions. But, for some reason I surely was this time.

Neither girl knew how to answer my previous question. Knowing them as well as I happened to, I was sure that everything they could think of saying didn't sound right for a situation like this. All the answers they thought of would only make me mad or not myself even more. For once when it came to one of the three of us they couldn't provide any help for the other. The other in this case being me.

"Wait! I've got an idea! I know how to clear your mind!" Rosalie exclaimed excitedly when a light bulb came on in her head.

I stopped rocking myself and lifted my head up. "What would that idea be?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Girls night out! Let's sneak into Mansion," Rosalie answered with a smirk.

Alice and I looked at each other and rolled our eyes. "We hate to break it to you, Rosalie, but Mansion is on the south side!" Alice and I reminded her.

"So what? What are the chances that Jacob and his gang would be anywhere near Mansion on the same night that we decide to go?" Rosalie asked momentarily having a stereotypical blonde moment where she forgot to use her head.

"Jacob has made it perfectly clear that he keeps his eye on me," I informed my currently clueless cousin who I truly did love.

Rosalie cocked an eyebrow. "Obsessed much?" she asked sounding a little bit creeped out.

I shook my head. "Not obsessed...determined," I corrected. A few seconds later, after getting a weird look from Rosalie, I added, "His words not mine."

"You know what, Bella? We should go," Alice spoke up.

I quickly turned my head towards my friend. A clear expression of shock was on my face. "Have you lost your ever loving mind, Alice?!"

Alice shrugged her shoulders. "No, Bella. I have not," she answered me. "I just think that it's stupid to let Jacob Black ruin you! Ever since he came into your life I've seen a change in you! A change that in the whole twelve years that I've known you I have never seen before! Don't you fucking see, Bella? He is literally stealing the best of you away right out from under you!" Alice exclaimed, speaking her peace.

"It's a lot more difficult than you think it is!" I shot back angrily raising my voice.

"Oh really? How is that?" Ali asked raising her voice as well.

Tears began involuntarily forming in my eyes and I fought hard to keep them from falling down my face. "Because..." I started, but paused when I felt that I shouldn't say what I was feeling as of now.

"Because what?" Alice and Rosalie both asked. trying to urge me to continue saying what I was going to say.

I knew I probably shouldn't, but it would be great to get it off of my chest. That being the case, I mumbled something quietly under my breath.

"Speak up, Winter," Rosalie said, coming over to stand closer.

"We didn't hear you," Alice added on, following suit.

"I said I think I'm starting to..." I trailed off once again returning my head to my hands.

Getting annoyed with me, Rosalie and Alice both made their way to the couch and sat down on either side of me. "Just spit it out, Bella," they both said.

"Oh, damn it. Fine! _Here goes nothing,"_ I thought to myself. "Ithinki'mstartingtolikehim..." I said as fast as I could without taking a single breath in between words.

"You're what?!" Both girls jumped off of the couch completely stunned by what they had just heard.

"Did you just say that..." Rosalie started to ask, but was too shocked to finish her question.

Therefore, Alice finished the question for her, "...you think you're starting to like him? Him as in Jacob Black?"

I nodded my head too ashamed to answer their question with words.

"No fucking way!" Rosalie and Alice both exclaimed not wanting to believe a word of what I just said.

"You're dating Edward for crying out loud!" Rosalie reminded her.

"You think I don't now that!" I yelled getting off of the couch abruptly and beginning to pace back and forth in between the television and the coffee table. "Besides, just because I might be starting to like someone else doesn't mean that I'm cheating on Edward!"

For the next ten minutes not a word was spoken between the three of us. The tension in the room during that time period could've easily been cut with a knife. Rosalie and Alice sat back down on and stayed in their positions on the couch, watching as I continuously paced back and forth in front of them with my arms crossed, biting my lip nervously.

Suddenly, I stopped pacing and turned to my friend and cousin. "Alright, let's go to Mansion tonight. I just need to get out of the apartment for a while and I need to let loose and forget all of my problems for at least one night!"

Without another word or waiting for Rosalie and Alice's responses, I made my way to my room to shower and get dressed up for a girl's night out.

**~Jacob's POV~**

I paced angrily back and forth in the middle of my mansion foyer. I was getting sick and tired of how all of my meetings with Bella were ending. Each and every time it always ended up with her getting in the last word or action. That fact didn't sit well with me even the slightest bit. It only made everyone of my guys begin to question me. They were beginning to think that I was losing my touch.

I was determined to prove to Bella and everyone that I was still the same old Jacob that everyone in Miami had come to know and fear more than anyone else. I would get my payback on Bella and once again set everyone straight. Everyone would once again see me as the Jacob Black that no one wanted to mess with.

I just had to put Bella in her place first and show her what the real Jacob was all about. Bella had no idea what was coming to her, and when it did she would finally realize that all of her previous actions towards me had only sealed her own fate. A fate that Bella refused to believe was really her true fate.

All of her actions in a sick and twisted way had only made me want her more. Bella would be mine sooner rather than later and there was nothing in the world that she or anyone else could do to stop it. Bella and Edward would both just have to learn to live with the fact that they were never suppose to be together.

"You wanted to see us boss?" I was brought out of my thoughts by the sound of the front door opening followed by all three of Embry, Quil, and Seth's voices.

U stopped pacing and turned to dace my three right-hand guys. "I want the three of you to go keep your eyes on Bella," I ordered.

"Do you really think that's a good idea?" Embry dared to ask a question about my strict order.

This was exactly what I was referring to. Before Bella, none of my guys would ever dare to do or say anything other than what I told them to. But now, all of a sudden, they were questioning most if not all of my orders. I didn't like it. I did not like it one bit.

Not wanting Embry to get the brunt of my anger if I decided to get mad at being questioned, Quil spoke up, "If Emmett knew we were on his territory for any reason, we would be as good as dead."

I chuckled, humorlessly. "Then I guess you three are just going to have to be crafty enough that you don't get caught."

"How are we suppose to do that?" Seth asked.

I shrugged and answered, "I am sure that you three will think of something."

They all shared dumbfounded looks.

"Now go! Call me when you know where she is," I ordered in my tone of voice that surprisingly still worked in telling them that I was not in the mood for any other questions.

"Yes, boss," Embry, Quil, and Seth said in unison before turning and leaving the mansion.

**~Bella's POV~**

I looked over at the clock on my bedside table and saw that it was now going on 8:30. Apparently, I had lost track of time when I was in the shower. I couldn't believe that I had just confessed to the girls that I thought that I might be falling for Jacob Black. I was suppose to hate him forever. Jacob was my brother's worst enemy for crying out loud. Baby sisters just shouldn't fall for their big brother's worst enemy. It's completely unethical.

Looking into my mirror, I shook my head in disbelief at myself. Everyone else could see it, and now even I could. I was no longer the Isabella Marie McCarty that everyone had come to know and love in the past two years that I'd lived in Miami. Instead of the up in your face, take crap from no one kind of girl that I used to be, I was now the run and hide, watch my poor innocent back kind of girl. I knew that I had to find my true self again and let it be known that I was still around. Otherwise, who knew what would happen to me.

But, for tonight I was going to force myself not to think about my long list of troubles. Instead, I was going to focus on letting loose and leaving my worries behind on the shelf. How hard could it possibly be to do? All I had to do was get through one night, and then tomorrow I could focus on finding my true self again and getting back to how I used to be before Jacob Black entered my life and screwed up everything that I had worked so hard for.

Pushing my problems to the back of my mind, I walked out of my bathroom and into my walk-in closet to find a dress and a pair of shoes to wear. After searching through all of my clothes, I decided on a simple black dress that went down to my mid-thigh and a pair of black wedged heels. To top my outfit off, I put on a simple pair of silver half hoop earrings, a matching silver bracelet, and the promise ring that Edward had given me a while back. Grabbing my black clutch, I made my way out into the living room.

"Holy shit!" Rosalie and Alice both exclaimed when they saw me come out of my room.

"You look smoking hot!" Rosalie complimented with a smirk.

I smirked back. "I know I do," I boasted, agreeing wholeheartedly with my cousin.

"Alright, so are we all ready to go?" Alice asked excitedly already waiting at the door.

Rosalie and I both smiled and nodded our heads as we made our way out the door.

The three of us made our way down stairs to my car. Usually we would have walked, but since we were heading to the south side territory none of us seemed to have enough guts to chance walking. By driving if we were to encounter Jacob or any members of his gang, we could easily make a run for it and high tail it back to the safety of our territory.

"I've never been so excited to sneak into Mansion in my life! I'm ready to let go completely and forget everything!" I exclaimed loudly not realizing then that by doing so I was making the biggest mistake of my life that much easier to make.

Tonight was all about us letting go and forgetting all about our troubles for one night. If only we had all known then, especially me, that things weren't going to go down quite as well as we had wanted them to. Getting in my car and driving off not once did any of us notice the three sets of eyes watching us from in the midst of the shadows.

**~Jacob's POV~**

I waited anxiously for the call from the guys that would let him know of Bella's whereabouts. The call could not come fast enough.

My phone began ringing and I wasted no time answering it. "Where is she?" I asked anxiously.

"She and the girls are on their way to Mansion now."

"Go there and distract the other two while I get hold of Bella," I ordered.

"Yes, boss."

That was all that I needed to hear. Without another word I hung up the phone, grabbed my jacket, and ran out the door.

I was more than ready to finally get what I wanted, and that was Bella. I was officially done playing. Bella would be mine by the end of the night and there was nothing that anyone could say or do to change my mind. I would get her no matter what I had to do to make it happen.

**~Rosalie's POV~**

Bella, Alice, and I sat at the bar in Mansion drinking, talking, and having a good time. We had been here for about an hour and we were each already on our third drink. 45 minutes of non-stop dancing can do that to people. It didn't take a genius to realize the three of us had been dead serious when we said that we wanted nothing more than to forget about our problems for the whole night.

"I'll be back. I have to go to the bathroom," Bella announced to me and Alice as she slide off of the bar stool.

"Alright, we'll be here," Alice and I said in unison as we chugged down the last couple of sips of our drinks.

As soon as Bella stumbled away from the bar only a few sips of her drink from completely drunk...she always had been a light drinker...the bartender placed two more drinks in front of me and Alice.

"We did not ask for these drinks," I said, raising an eyebrow.

"They're from those three guys down at the end of the bar," the bartender informed us.

Alice and I looked at each other, and then down towards where the bartender had pointed. Our eyes widened when we realized who the three guys the bartender was talking about were. Looking at each other again, we both swallowed the lumps that suddenly formed in our throats.

" _Okay, so maybe this was not my brightest idea after all_ ," I thought to myself.

"Yeah, Rosalie...what are the chances that Jacob and his gang would be anywhere near Mansion on the same night that we decide to go?" Alice asked sarcastically as she remembered the question that I had asked after suggesting we come to Mansion in the first place word for word.

"How the hell was I suppose to fucking know?" I shot back, looking over to where the guys had just been. "Where the hell did they go?" I asked turning back to Alice when I saw that they were no longer where they had been just moments ago.

Alice opened her mouth to say something, but closed it abruptly when out of the corner of her eye she saw Embry, Quil, and Seth standing there. She looked at me with the same exact expression on her face that I was sure I was wearing on mine. Well, so much for a night of forgetting our troubles.

"Aren't you two a little young to be in a club drinking?" Embry asked, speaking up first.

Alice and I forced our nerves away and turned around on our stools until we were facing the three guys.

"Maybe," Alice answered simply.

"But, even if we are you're the ones who bought us another round," Rosalie pointed out.

Quil shrugged and replied with a smirk on his face, staring at just her the entire time, "Fair enough."

Rosalie wasn't sure whether to be flattered or creeped out by the fact that he was staring so intently at her.

"Wait a second," Alice said after thinking to herself for a moment. "If you three are here, then Jacob is more than likely here, too."

Both of our eyes widened and we turned to each other only to yell, "Oh god! Bella!"

We both jumped off of our stools and made a move to go find Bella and make sure that she was okay and that Jacob hadn't already gotten to her. Before we could move even a foot we both felt hands on each of our arms and we were pushed back onto the stools.

"We can't let you do that," Seth told us.

"Like hell you can't!" I exclaimed as I tried to get up again only to be pushed back down once again by Quil.

I wished it was just me and him right now because I would've given him a surprise mean right hook. But with Embry and Seth there as well, I wasn't willing to take my chances right now.

"What the hell is he planning on doing to her?" Alice dared to ask.

I was pretty sure that neither of us were going to like the answer. And I was proven right.

Embry smirked and answered, "What he's been wanting to do since day one."

"Which is?" I questioned, still afraid to know what the answer was.

"Make her his once and for all," Quil answered, laughing.

Once again, I so badly wanted to punch him in his face...his gorgeous face. " _No, Rosalie! Those are the drinks talking!_ " I scolded myself.

Alice and I looked at each other with worried looks. Bella had obviously not been that far from drunk when she left to go to the bathroom. Alice and I both knew that we couldn't just let Jacob take advantage of her like that. We would hate ourselves if we didn't try to stop what was about to happen. Most of all, Bella would hate herself once she sobered up and she would probably hate us as well.

**~Jacob's POV~**

I watched from the opposite side of the bar with my signature smirk displayed on my face as Embry, Quil, and Seth made sure that Rosalie and Alice never left the bar. With no one to ruin my plan, I knew that it wasn't going to be much longer before I finally made Bella mine. This would certainly be a night that I would never soon forget.

I waited patiently for Bella to come out of the bathroom. When she did, I quickly stepped in the way of her path back to the bar. By the way she was stumbling as she walked, I could tell right away that she was drunk. As much as I wanted Bella to remember what I was planning to do, I knew that she would never agree sober.

The last thing I ever wanted to do was force Bella to do something that she didn't want to. I may be a gang leader and I may kill people from time to time but I would never knowingly force myself upon a woman. This was definitely making things harder for me. How could I continue along with my plan without forcing her to do anything she wasn't up to?

"Jacob, why are you here?" Bella asked after accidentally running into me.

In order to make it seem like I was a good guy for the night, pretending to actually care I asked her, "How much have you had to drink tonight?"

Bella thought about it for a moment before answering, "Like three drinks." Moments later a huge smile lit up her face. She gasped and then said, "You should come have a drink with me!"

I smirked at Bella's suggestion. I had to admit that drunk Bella was a lot more fun to be around than sober Bella. "I have got an even better idea, how about I take you home instead?" I counter suggested.

Bella wasted no time shaking her head. "No! You need to have a drink with me first!" Bella insisted grabbing my hand and pulling me to the closest side of the bar.

**~Third Person POV~**

The last thing Jacob had planned on doing when he had first decided that tonight was the night that he was to make Bella his was to get drunk and not remember what was going to happen either. But, after Bella's constant insisting that he drink with her, Jacob could not find it in him to say no to her. What was one drink going to do? Either way he'd still have Bella at the end of the night.

But soon one became two and two became three and so on until he was just as drunk as Bella was. They were both so drunk that neither of them really knew how they had gotten back to Bella's apartment. Both of them would have regrets from getting drunk the next morning. Bella would regret ever doing what she was about to do because she was drunk and Jacob would regret getting drunk because he didn't get the chance to remember all of what was about to happen.

As soon as Bella and Jacob made it into her apartment and into her bedroom their hands were all over each other. Kicking the door shut, Jacob turned around and pressed Bella up against it, attacking her throat with open mouth kisses. While Jacob worked vigorously on her throat, Bella reached down to the hem of Jacob's shirt and pulled it up.

Jacob broke away from Bella for only a second to allow her to pull his shirt over his head and throw it to the ground. Then, his mouth was on her again and his hands were playing with the bottom of her dress slowly and teasingly pushing it up. Bella ran her hands all over his chest and moaned at just the feel of his bare skin.

Jacob pushed her dress up making sure to lightly touch the inside of her thighs as he did so. Bella moaned as she felt a tingly sensation at her core thanks to his fingers on the sensitive skin only inches from the place where she wanted them the most. Bella grabbed the back of Jacob's head pulling him up and smashing their lips together. She needed and wanted to feel Jacob's lips against hers. It was as if the feel of his lips was her only source of life in that moment.

Bella groaned in protest when Jacob pulled away from her. But then she felt a rush of cool air as her dress was pulled up and over her head and then discarded on the floor to quickly be forgotten. Bella was now only in her bra and panties, standing in front of the one guy she would never have been caught dead with if she were sober.

Speaking of sober, for a second Bella's sober side took over and she almost stopped what was happening from going any further. In the end, the alcohol induced side of her won out. After all, she knew it was wrong, but right now it felt oh so right.

"Having second thoughts?" Jacob asked, surprising himself at being so caring with her.

Bella thought for a moment and weighed her options some more before answering, "No, not at all."

As soon as the words left her mouth she couldn't help but feel deep inside of herself and fear that those words would come back and haunt her in the future sometime. The tingly sensation at her core had become more intense all of sudden and instantly brought her out of her thoughts. She would worry about her regrets later when she was sober again and had no choice.

Bella knew that she needed friction more than anything, and if she backed out now then she'd probably never get it. Bella walked forward and pushed Jacob around the corner until the back of his legs hit her bed. Anxious for friction, she pushed him onto the bed and made quick work of his belt and button on his jeans. As Bella pulled at his jeans and boxers, Jacob got the memo and lifted his hips in order to make it easier for her as she pulled both of them down at once, throwing them somewhere else in the room.

Bella was about to climb on top of him, but he stopped her before she could. She was ready to protest, but gasped and moaned instead when she felt her underwear being dragged down her legs and a finger was suddenly at her core, teasing her slightly before sinking into her tight channel. Bella immediately went weak in her knees.

Sensing this, Jacob quickly wrapped his free arm around her waist and pulled her down on top of him. Bella kicked her underwear off of her legs the rest of the way, and moaned loudly at the feeling of another finger entering her. Jacob rolled them over so that he was now on top of her giving him better access as he began moving his fingers in and out of her.

Using his many years of experience while keeping up the other task at hand, Jacob used his free hand to reach behind Bella and unhook her bra, pulling it off and discarding it along with their other clothing somewhere on the floor. Jacob drew out a long and loud moan from Bella when he latched on to one of her breasts using his free hand to now knead on the other one.

Bella couldn't believe how good Jacob was at mutlitasking. At least now she understood why so many girls threw theirselves at him all the time. With each touch from his hand, suck from his mouth, and thrust from his fingers Bella felt herself getting closer and closer to a state of pure bliss.

"More, more, please more," she moaned out pushing herself farther onto Jacob's fingers.

Jacob smirked as he added a third finger. He thrusted all three of his fingers in and out of her at a rapid pace. Bella met every thrust with a snap of her hips. Jacob's thumb finally found it's way to her clit and Bella couldn't hold on any longer. She came fast and hard screaming out Jacob's name. Jacob continued thrusting his fingers in and out of her massaging her clit with his thumb as he worked her through her orgasm.

After coming down from her first high of the night, Bella wasted no time in rolling them over so that she was now on top of Jacob again. "I wanna be on top," she declared as she positioned herself so that she was hovering over him. Taking a deep breath, Bella dropped herself down and immediately gasped at the slight pain she felt. It had been a while since she'd last done this.

Bella waited until she adjusted to Jacob's size before pulling herself back up and dropping herself down again. This time she wasted no time in doing it again. Once she had set a fast pace that she was comfortable with, Bella leaned down passionately pressing her lips to Jacob's. She happily granted him access when his tongue ran back and forth across her lips begging to be let in.

Deciding that he wanted control, Jacob flipped them over so that he was on top again and began forcefully thrusting himself in and out of Bella. They both moaned at the feeling all the while their tongues fought for dominance which Jacob quickly won.

"Faster, Jacob! Harder!" Bella moaned against his lips.

Jacob smirked granting her wish and increasing his pace to what could only be described as almost an inhuman pace.

Bella screamed out louder and louder each time. She could feel herself getting closer and closer for the second time that night. "I'm so close, Jacob," she moaned into his mouth.

Jacob could feel himself getting closer and closer, too. Wanting them to both come at the same time, he placed his thumb on Bella's clit and began rubbing it at a rapid pace.

"Cum now," Jacob ordered, panting heavily in her ear.

And she did.

Moments later, he followed suit.

Jacob collapsed on top of Bella making sure not to crush her with all of his weight. Both of them were breathing hard as they came down from their highs. Jacob from his first, and Bella from her second. Exhausted, Jacob pulled out of Bella and rolled onto his back. Tired as well, Bella snuggled into Jacob's side and it wasn't long before she was fast asleep.

If only Bella had been sober none of that would've happened in the first place. She would have to deal with the consequences of her actions when she woke up the next morning. It was just a matter of whether she would be able to handle the realization of what she'd done or not.


	12. Chapter 11 - Picking up the Broken Pieces

**~Bella's POV~**

The next afternoon when I woke up, I had a killer hangover and very little memory of the night before. There was a reason why I never made it a habit to go out drinking all the time. I was too much of a light drinker to put myself through that more than maybe once every month or so. Judging by my hangover, I wouldn't be going out again anytime soon if I could help it.

It wasn't until I rolled over and buried my head in the pillow next to me that my senses went into overdrive and I became suddenly alert. Wide-eyed, I kicked off my covers and jumped out of bed as if it were a pit full of snakes. Why the hell did my pillow smell like a man? Better yet, why did my pillows and my covers smell like Jacob?

As a sudden whoosh of cool air hit me, I looked down at myself and my jaw practically dropped to the floor. I wasn't wearing a single item of clothing. Looking up from myself to my bed and then back to myself again, realization dawned on me like someone had just thrown a barrel of bricks at me. All of the pieces finally fit into the puzzle, and I solved it as fast as a professional would. I had drunkenly hooked up with Jacob.

Guilt and absolute disgust washed over me. I had risked everything by getting drunk and sleeping with him. Not only was my sanity now completely shot to hell, but I had also cheated on Edward. I couldn't possibly keep what had happened a secret from him, could I? No, if I did that and Edward found out somehow later on down the road how would I ever be able to live with myself?

"How could you be so fucking stupid?" I asked myself angrily out loud as I painfully ran my hands through my tangled hair.

Caught up in my rage and disgust in myself, I lost all control of my actions for the second time in twenty four hours and soon heard glass shattering followed by the feeling of a painful stinging in my left hand. I realized as I looked up that in my angry haste of stomping through my room, I managed to somehow get over to my mirror. Not only that, I had just punched my mirror right off of the wall where it had previously been hanging.

The floor was suddenly covered by many shards of glass and several drops of blood. My hand was gushing blood and shards of glass were sticking out from many different cuts in my skin. Finding the pain from the wounds on my hand and the realization of my actions the night before too hard to bare, my knees gave out from beneath me and I fell to the floor. Tears of anger, frustration, guilt, and pain were pouring down my face faster than drops of rain in a thunderstorm.

I wasn't on the floor for more than a few seconds when I vaguely heard the sound of my bedroom door swinging open and hitting the wall behind it. Emmett ran in moments later. I stopped crying just long enough to look up at him. How the hell was I going to explain any of this to Emmett? I could not under any circumstances tell him the truth, that was for sure. I didn't have much time to come up with something. He was sure to start asking questions soon enough.

It was that though the started the tears back up.

I was so screwed.

**~Emmett's POV~**

Storming into Bella's room only to find her crumpled in a naked heap on the floor, I quickly shielded my eyes and turned away. I immediately left the room, returning seconds later with the cover from the back of the couch. I carefully walked over, still shielding my eyes, to where she was and leaned forward to hand it to her. It took he a few seconds to reach forward and grab it, wincing slightly as she did.

I waited twenty seconds at least to give her enough time to cover herself up before I unshielded my eyes.

Bella started crying loudly, babbling incoherent words. I instinctively moved to my sister's side. Kneeling down beside her, I took in the sight of the floor around me, confused. That is until I noticed Bella's injured and bloody hand. My eyes widened and I looked around, taking in my surroundings. The floor was covered in blood and glass shards and the wall mirror was no longer a mirror nor was it hanging on the wall. What could have possibly driven Bella to shatter her mirror and injured her hand like this?

As much as I wanted to know the answer to my question, I had to wait. There were more important matters to handle right now. Bella needed to get dressed and I needed to get her to the hospital to get the shards of glass removed from her hand and have it stitched up before she lost more blood and ended up in a more serious situation.

I stood up and gently reached forward to grab Bella's glass free hand, and I helped her up off of the ground. The whole time Bella was muttering under her breath something about having made a huge mistake that she wished more than nothing else in the world that she could take back. My interest was piqued more, but it would have to wait until later.

I sat Bella down on her bed before going into her closet and picking out a simple t-shirt and then walked over to her dresser to grab a pair of shorts for her to change into. After handing her the clothes that I had picked out for her, I left the room to give her some privacy so that she could dress in peace at her own pace.

I paced around the living room as Bella took her time getting dressed. She was probably making sure that she didn't get any blood on any of her clothes. After she was dressed she made her way out into the living room where I was. I had a puzzled look on my face as I was still trying to figure out why Bella had done what she'd done.

I made my way to the kitchen to grab a dish towel and brought it over to her, wrapping it around her hand. "I know you hate going to the hospital, but I have no choice other than to take you," I told her.

Bella simply nodded as she couldn't find it in her to be able to form any coherent speech at the moment. It was no secret to anyone that Bella hated hospitals with a passion. They were usually full of death, sickness, and sadness. Bella hated all of the above.

Usually whenever someone said something about taking her to a hospital whether it be the result of a surfing accident, a jogging accident, or any other kind of accident Bella would put up a fight. But, since she was sure to be in so much pain and probably didn't have the energy to fight me about it, I didn't question her. When I lead her out the door, she didn't put up any struggle at all.

**~Bella's POV~**

I winced every time the doctor pressed the small needle into my hand. It had taken the doctor at least an hour to get every little shard of glass out of my hand and now the doctor was proceeding to put a lot of stitches in my hand to keep whatever blood was left in my hand from coming out and making me suffer from severe blood loss.

The whole time the doctor was stitching me up, I just sat on the bed in the hospital room avoiding all eye contact with Emmett. I was still way too ashamed about everything that had happened last night, and now this. The last thing I wanted to do right now was explain to my brother what I had done to make me lash out like I had.

I didn't want Emmett to think of me as a slut if I told him that I had drunkenly cheated on Edward. Therefore, I did everything that I could do to avoid the inevitable. I could not keep a secret like this to myself forever. There was nothing I could do to change that, but I could at least try to hold it off for as long as possible.

"Why did you do this?" Emmett asked, breaking me from my thoughts and successfully ruining my plans not to tell him just yet.

It wouldn't be long before he broke me down and I caved in and confessed my wrong doing to him.

I kept my head down and turned away from him, refusing to answer him. Maybe if I didn't say a single word he would let it go for now. Oh, who was she kidding? She knew her brother like she knew the back of her hand. Emmett would never let it go until he got the answer to his question.

"Isabella Marie McCarty, why did you do this?" he asked again using my whole name, refusing to let it go just as I had suspected he would.

I shook my head again, wincing at the feeling of the doctor still continuously pulling the needle through my skin. How was I suppose to answer Emmett's question? Was I supposed to say..."Oh, I snuck into Mansion last night, got wasted, and then ended the night by sleeping with your biggest enemy...all the while cheating on Edward?" Yeah, right. That would go over well.

"Isabella," Emmett said through gritted teeth, getting impatient with me.

I couldn't control myself and tears began to pour down my face. " _My, God! What is happening to me? I am being such a baby right now!_ " I hissed at myself.

Unfortunately for me, I couldn't blame my babyish mood on my monthly friend since that was still about a week or two away. So the only excuse I had left was that I was making up for all the times that I never cried as a child when most kids would have. Yeah, that excuse worked very well for me.

"Please, do not make me tell you this, Emmett," I pleaded to him.

"No, Bella," he replied, not willing to let this subject go. "You're going to tell me now whether you want to or not. Keeping whatever it is you're hiding inside and not telling anyone about it will only lead to more hospital visits in the future," Emmett told me, truthfully. Seconds later, he added, "Believe me. I, of all the people that you know, would know."

I certainly couldn't argue with that one. Emmett had been in and out of the hospital as well as the police station time and time again because of his status in the city. All of it was mainly because he kept so much of his anger bottled up inside that when he was tested he lost all control and would take his anger out by using violence.

As much as I didn't want to admit it, my brother was right. I could not not tell someone about this. I sure as hell didn't want to wind up like my brother. No offense, I really do love him. But, I couldn't bring myself to disappoint everyone by screwing up worse than I already had. Most importantly, I couldn't bring myself to disappoint myself anymore than I already had.

" _Alright, find he wins,_ " I said to myself. I took a deep breath before finally looking up at my brother and quietly confessing to him, "I cheated on Edward."

Emmett's eyes immediately widened, causing me to drop my head yet again in shame. I knew admitting this to him wouldn't end well. Why had I let him talk me into telling him?

**~Emmett's POV~**

No, there was no way. There was just no way that I had heard my sister right. She cheated on Edward? No, that is not possible. Bella did not do things like that. At least, not on purpose or that he knew of.

"What did you just say?" I asked not sure whether my ears were playing tricks on me or not, all the while hoping that I had heard her wrong.

"IcheatedonEdward," Bella answered in one breath, still avoiding eye contact with me at all costs.

So my ears really weren't playing tricks on me. Damn!

I opened my mouth to say something, but the doctor beat me to it.

"I'm just going to go and get some extra gauze for you to take home with you so that you can change it periodically throughout the day until the stitches dissolve," the doctor informed us before rushing out of the room to give me and Bella some privacy.

I had been so curious to find out what caused Bella to punch her mirror that I had forgotten the doctor was even still in the room.

I watched as the doctor left quickly, slamming the door behind him. Once we were alone, turned my attention back to my sister. "This is not at all like you, Bella. What the hell is going on with you all of a sudden? Cheating on Edward? Are you insane?" I asked in outrage at the fact that Bella would do such a thing. I had such high hopes for her, and she had gone and let me down...not completely, but just enough to hurt me.

Bella took me by surprise when she suddenly jumped off of the hospital bed and turned to me. She looked up and finally made eye contact with me. "You know what? Maybe I am! Maybe I am insane! I went to a bar, got drunk, and cheated on Edward. So yes I guess you could say that I'm insane. Because if I wasn't then I wouldn't have done what I did!" Bella yelled.

I stared at her in total surprise. This Bella was not the Bella I was accustomed to. What was going on with her right now? Who was this Bella standing before me?

**~Bella's POV~**

My tears subsided as soon as I went off on Emmett and instead of shame and guilt, anger flooded my system. What the hell am I doing right now? I was blaming this whole thing on myself when I was not the only one to blame. I was not exactly alone when I did what I did. Jacob was to blame just as much as I was. Not that he would ever admit it, but all that mattered was that I knew it to be the truth.

"You did not answer my other question! What the hell is going on with you all of a sudden?" Emmett asked, his tone full of anger.

I could tell that foe even a second Emmett didn't like the fact that he didn't know what was going on with me. When we were growing up, Emmett and I were as close as close can get. We had been practically inseparable. That had all changed when we moved to Miami. It didn't take long for Emmett to begin hanging with the wrong crowd and then start his own gang when we moved here. Alice had soon after that replaced Emmett as my other, for lack of a better term to describe the situation, half.

"You don't want to know what's going on with me all of a sudden! You would not like it one bit!" I answered him just as angrily as he had asked the question.

Before our argument could continue any farther, the doctor reentered the room.

The doctor handed walked over to me and handed me a pack of gauze wrap. "Change the gauze around your hand twice a day for the next two or three weeks. The stitches should be dissolved by then. Also, whatever you do make sure you don't sleep on or use your left hand for anything at all," the doctor told me with a brief smile. "You can just sign out at the front desk."

I raised an eyebrow and in all seriousness asked, "Not even to punch someone?"

The doctor shook his head right away and sternly answered, "Especially not for that. If you mess up your stitches for any reason, they will all have to be redone."

I turned my head and rolled my eyes, so that the doctor did not see. Well, that just ruined my plans of giving Jacob a piece of my mind later. I would just have to use my words now. Oh, just the thought of how fun that would be. He would probably never take me seriously that way.

Jacob was mostly to blame for the events of last night. I was drunk and surely he had been aware of it. I would have never slept with him if I had been sober. Therefore, as far as I was concerned now, Jacob had taken advantage of her the night before. His intentions for me had been clear since the first day we met. All he wanted was to have me throw myself at him so he would be able to keep up his reputation as the guy who had many notchs on his belt. Jacob clearly had a fucked up way of making that happen.

I nodded my head in understanding as I turned my head to look at the doctor again and have him a fake smile. "Thank you, doctor."

The doctor nodded and before leaving again replied with a simple, "Anytime."

I turned momentarily to glare at Emmett before storming out of the room. "Goodness gracious! The fucking nerve of my fucking brother!" I exclaimed to myself. "Who the hell does he think he is?" I asked myself, rhetorically as I stepped out onto the semi crowded Miami sidewalk.

Just because Emmett is one of the top two scariest guys in Miami doesn't mean that I was scared of him, too. Apparently, sometimes his ego just overpowered his brain and made him think he could act around me like he acted around everyone else. I'd be damned if I let him actually succeed in doing so. He had another thing coming if he thought I would just let him be like that around me.

The past few weeks had been the most hectic and screwed up weeks of my whole entire life. Not even my mother leaving without a goodbye or a note when I was 16 could beat the past few weeks. That fact right there was saying something. If I had to choose between reliving my mom leaving or reliving the past few weeks, it was a no brainer that I would choose reliving my mom leaving.

I walked through the crowds of people that crowded Miami's sidewalk. Usually I would shove my way through in order to get to where I was going faster, but the doctor had specifically said that I could not use my left hand for anything, and shoving through crowds of people required me using both of my hands.

Just as I was about to enter my apartment building the sound of my phone going off stopped me in my tracks. I sighed a frustrated sigh as I took out my phone and looked at the caller id. I really didn't want to talk to anyone right now, but I saw that it was Rosalie and answered despite the fact.

Opening her phone, I pushed the green talk button and placed the phone up to my ear. "Where were you last night?" I asked as my way of greeting her instead of saying hello. I didn't want to sound like a bitch, but that's how it came out anyways.

Rosalie didn't respond to her question right away. "You will never ever be able to understand how sorry I am, Bella. I'm so very sorry," Rosalie broke out apologizing. I heard Monroe saying something to someone else before she added, "Alice is, too. We are both deeply sorry for not being there for you."

"You did not answer my question just now, Rosalie. Where were you?" I asked again.

Once again, Rosalie didn't answer my question right away. When she answered this time, she was whispering, "I can not tell you right now. I do not want them to hear me."

"Them?" I asked confused and that's when it suddenly hit me. Them. Them as in Jacob and his gang? "Wait a second! Did Jacob give Quil, Embry, and Seth orders to keep you two distracted and, or away from me so that he could get to me?" I asked border line outraged.

"Yes, that's exactly it," Rosalie answered quickly. "There was three of them and two of us. We wanted to help but the numbers were off."

"Where the hell are you?" I asked fuming with rage, leaning back against my apartment building wall in order to keep myself standing up right.

"Jacob's mansion. He won't let us leave until you agree to come and see him," Rosalie answered almost afraid to tell me, knowing that I wouldn't react well to it.

I clenched her teeth and had to force myself to contain my breathing and not over react more than I already was. "No, you tell him that the only way I will see him is if it's at the boundary line. That way I along with you and Alice can leave whenever the hell I want us to. Those are the terms," I told her, making sure to make my voice sound in a way that she knew to tell him that there was no negotiating the terms because I was dead serious and set in stone with those terms.

The sound of Monroe's voice revealed that she was slightly afraid to tell Jacob what I had said when she forced herself to relax and she told him, "She said the only way she'll see you is if it's at the boundary line. That way we can all leave whenever the hell we want to"

I could hear Jacob laughing on the other end of the phone.

"He said for me to tell you to be there in 20," Rosalie said right before the call was ended.

I took my phone away from my ear and looked at it in disbelief. Did Rosalie really hand up on me just now? No, she couldn't have Better yet she would not have ever hung up on me. Rosalie was smarter than that. Therefore, it was obvious that someone must have done it for her. That just made me even more pissed off than I had been seconds before.

I closed my phone and put it back into my pocket. Pushing myself off of the building wall, I turned and stormed down the sidewalk. Jacob had officially crossed over the line passed the point of return. First, he took advantage of me when I was drunk, and now he practically kidnapped my cousin and best friend slash sister. If it weren't for the stitches in my hand, then surely Jacob would be a dead man. If he thought that he was a scary badass, then he was about to come face to face with someone who could give him a run for his money.

Me.


	13. Chapter 12 - Closing of a Chapter, Maybe

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Twilight. I only own the plot...sort of.

**~Bella's POV~**

I made it to the boundary line in less than 15 minutes. Surely that's what Jacob really meant when he had said to be there in 20. I may have only known him for only three weeks now, but believe it or not I had learned a lot about him in those three weeks. Which was unfortunate for him, of course. And, in a way, unfortunate for me, too. I knew more about him than I ever wanted to know about him.

Jacob stood there on the other side of the boundary line with that stupid smirk on his face that only he knew how to wear properly. I probably hated that smirk more than I hated anything else in the world and I hated quite a few things. Most of all, I hated the fact that Jacob was the one who always wore it right.

"Sleep well?" Jacob asked, his smirk growing as soon as I stopped in front of him on my side side of the boundary line.

I glared at him and answered through clenched teeth, "No, not even a little."

"Come on now, Bella. We both know that that's a lie," Jacob replied, doubting my answer like he knew me better than I knew myself or something.

"How the fuck would you know if I slept well or not?! You're not me. Just because you might of slept well doesn't mean that I did!" I hissed at him, crossing my arms over my chest.

"Why so much anger?" he asked pretending to be shocked by my outcry just to get an even bigger rise out of me and damn it if it didn't work.

"You know damn well why," I spat at him. "You fucking took advantage of me last night!" I added after a second or two of raging silence.

"I did no such thing. You wanted it just as much as I did," Jacob told me clearly loving the way that he had enough power over me to piss me off just by saying certain things.

"To hell I did! I was fucking drunk! I didn't know what the fuck I was doing or saying!" I went off again as I clenched my good hand at my side. "My main fault was that I went out drinking even though I knew you were going to be spying on me. At least, I can admit some fault in what happened...unlike somebody else!"

I was ready to throw a punch at any second now. That is until I remembered that if I did do that there was a huge possibility that Jacob would sense it in time and grab my hand to prevent me from connecting with his face. The last thing I needed was to have both hands injured and not be able to use either of them.

"I was drunk as well," Jacob said honestly. He wasn't lying because he had gotten drunk last night, too. But that didn't make any difference to me. He was not drunk before I was. "I was just trying to look out for you."

"Yeah, after you had already ordered Embry, Quil, and Seth to keep Rosalie and Alice distracted and away from me just so that your fucking plan to sleep with me could come full circle!" I yelled at him. "I was wasted, you were sober at first," I pointed out a few moments later. "If you honestly only wanted to look out for and help me then you could've tried harder. You could've put your foot down and said no when I first tried to get you to drink with me. Hell, you could've even dragged me out of there kicking and screaming. Don't deny that it didn't cross your mind at all that giving in and getting drunk with me could give you plausible deniability that you did anything wrong."

I may have been drunk last night, but with everything I had been told today I had put it all together and wound up creating the perfect argument with it all. My argument was so good that I already knew before hand that Jacob would never be able to defend himself against it.

Jacob's smirk dropped and he was suddenly just as fuming angry as I was. It was obvious that he hated it when I one-upped him by saying something that we both knew would leave him speechless. It was now my turn to smirk at him.

I laughed. "Speechless and fuming mad yourself, aren't you now?"

Not giving him any time to answer, I looked past him at Rosalie and Alice who were currently being held back by Embry, Quil, and Seth. The fact that they had their hands on my cousin and best friend slash sister made my blood boil even more.

"Let them go," I demanded looking the three of them each dead in the eyes.

They all three shook their heads no and told me that they couldn't do that.

Rosalie and Alice both yelped when the guy's grasps on them grew tigether. The two of them looked at me with hopeful looks in their eyes. They looked from me to Jacob and then back to me as if to beg me to somehow make him order the three guys to release them.

I nodded at them in understanding before turning my attention back to Jacob. "Tell them to release Rosalie and Alice."

Jacob shook his head and simply told me, "No."

"Damn it, Jacob! That was the fucking deal! You get to see me and they get to leave!" I yelled at him, annoyed by the fact that he was acting the way he was. "Out of the three weeks I've actually known you, I've learned that you are a man of his word. Do not fucking ruin that now!"

Seeming to think about my words for a little bit, still fuming angry, he turned his head and signaled for Embry, Quil, and Seth to let the girls go. They did so immediately following their leaders silent orders and Rosalie and Alice quickly ran until they were both standing on either side of me.

"What the hell did you do to your hand?" Rosalie asked suddenly when she looked down and saw that my left hand was wrapped in gauze.

"I punched my mirror," I answered, shrugging as if it wasn't that big of a deal.

Rosalie and Alice looked at each other with their eyes wide and their jaws dropped. They both had guilty looks in their eyes and probably felt it even more than they looked it. It was obvious that they thought it was their faults that my hand was messed up now. They clearly knew right away that I had punched my mirror as soon as I realized what I'd done the night before. If only they had been there with me none of this would've happened.

"It's not your faults," I assured them both. "You two had nothing to do with any of this."

I didn't know how much my words would help them now, but they needed to be said none-the-less.

"We are all going to be going now," I informed Jacob as well as Embry, Quil, and Seth.

After that I turned my attention fully on to Jacob.

"As for you...I never want to see you again! Once the girls and I leave here I want you out of my life for good. I don't want to see, hear from, or even sense you anywhere around me at all! As far as I'm concerned you were just a fucking bump in the road for me! And, now I'm driving over said bump, passing you by, and never looking back!" I spat at him. "You have caused me nothing but fucking trouble since you've entered my life, and now I'm kicking you out of it!" I finished taking a chance and slapping him across the face with her good hand.

Instead of running away like I normally did, I stayed in my spot and stood my ground to see if Jacob would do anything back. Surprisingly, he did not. He was still fuming with anger the if the look on his face was any indication as well as his stance, but he still did nott do anything. Was he admitting defeat? No, no he couldn't be. That's not something he would ever do. Whatever the reason was for him not doing isn't, it definitely was not because he was admitting defeat.

After a few minutes of standing there and nothing happening, I finally had enough of standing my ground and looking at Jacob. Therefore, without another word, I turned around and walked away from him and that not so great chapter of my life. Rosalie and Alice followed me without having to be told, and the three of us turned the corner walking into our new lives, or at least, so we thought.

Unbeknownst to me at that point in time, nothing and no one was that easy to get over. People don't just move on as soon as they walk out of someone's life. To make matters even worse, I was soon going to find out how it felt to be betrayed by someone really close to me because I was not the only one who found it easy to get involved in a certain situation or with someone in such little time. I would soon find out that betrayal hurts worse than anything else I had ever had to endure before in my life.


	14. Chapter 13 - Betrayals of the Worst Kind

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Twilight. I only own the plot...sort of.

**~Bella's POV~**

The next few days flew by rather fast for me. A lot had happened during those few days. All things in which distracted me and helped me try to move on like I had told Jacob that I was going to do. I was going to do my best to prove to everyone that I had meant what I said. Jacob was now in the past and I refused to be caught up in it any longer.

The first time I saw Edward after the night I had made the mistake of sleeping with Jacob, I confessed to him what I had done. If I kept it a secret for any longer, it would've only made things worse if he were to find out from someone else later on. Even though I did the right thing by telling him, I had not seen him since then.

I also managed to get a job at The Forge as a hostess in order to drown out all of my problems and to help me move on with my life. I figured that if I drowned myself in my work and took on as many shifts as I could without over doing it surely I would have no time at all to think of anything dealing with my personal life. It was working out just as I planned on it doing so far.

Working at The Forge worked well with my schedule as well as drowning everything out. Every night, except for Friday's and Saturday's, I worked from opening time which was six in the evening to closing time which was 11.

By time I got home on those nights it was already around midnight, and I would get ready for bed, watch tv, and go to sleep. Then every afternoon when I woke up, I did my errands, got things I needed to do around the apartment done, and at around 5:30 I went to work. My personal problems very rarely had any time to worry me now-a-days, and for that I was ecstatic.

"Where are you going, Rosalie?" I asked curiously as I walked out of my room and into the living room only to find Rosalie leaving.

Rosalie stopped dead in her tracks and turned to look at me. "Nowhere important," she answered, clearly lying through her teeth.

"You're lying," I immediately called her out on her lie. "Where are you going?" I asked again, crossing my arms tightly across my chest.

Rosalie sighed. This time she, for the most part, answered truthfully, making sure not to give too much away. "I'm going out with a guy I know."

I raised an eyebrow quizzically. "Does this guy by chance have a name?" I asked her, wanting to know what she was keeping from me but not wanting to push her too much.

"Umm...yeah, but I would rather not tell you. I don't even know if it'll work out between the two of us," Rosalie answered avoiding telling me the guy's name at any and every cost.

I was curious as to why she wouldn't tell me the guy's name and was going to question her about it but then she said something else and I decided to not ask her more questions.

"I do not want to jinx it," she added as a afterthought.

I dropped my arms, and shrugged my shoulders before making my way into the kitchen. "Fair enough," I replied, grabbing a drink out of the fridge.

"Alright, then. Thank you for being so understanding about it. I'll see you later," Rosalie smiled briefly before turning back around and practically running out the door.

I watched Rosalie run out of the apartment while taking a sip of her drink. I may have been acting understanding and all, but I still knew that something was up. Rosalie was hiding something. I knew her way too well to believe her excuse. Rosalie was a good liar, but when it came to actually hiding something big from me...she sucked at it.

"Good afternoon, Bella," Alice said cheerfully as she exited her bedroom and walked through the living room to get to the kitchen.

"Do you know anything about the guy that Rosalie is going out to see?" I asked as Alice made herself a bowl of cereal.

"Guy? She never told me about any guy," Alice answered, the tone of her voice giving the lie away, not turning around.

I noticed her tense up slightly and raised an eyebrow. "You sure about that?" I asked crossing my arms as I turned and leaned against the counter next to Alice.

Alice nodded and answered, "Yes, I'm sure."

I couldn't hold back the chuckle that fell through my lips. "You're just as bad at lying as Rosalie is."

"I'm not lying!" Alice almost immediately went on the defense.

"Then why are you being so defensive all of a sudden?" I asked with a devious smirk on her face knowing that I was close to causing her to crack.

"You're saying I'm lying when I'm not!" Alice answered as she still refused to make eye contact with me as she got a spoon from the drawer, grabbed her bowl of cereal, and went over to sit down at the table.

"There goes another lie!" I exclaimed pushing off of the counter and sitting down across from her. "Just tell me what you know, and I will get off your case," I said staring a hole in to the top of Alice's head since she was looking down at her cereal to avoid looking at me

"I can't tell you," Alice said quietly.

I squinted my eyes, confused. Leaning forward across the table to get closer to Alice, trying to pry the truth out of her, I asked, "You want to tell me who it is, though, don't you?"

Alice sighed in a sense of small defeat and nodded, but did not say a single word.

"Well, why don't you?" I wondered out loud.

"I promised Rosalie that I wouldn't say anything about it to you," Alice answered, the look of pain on her face giving away the fact that she was biting her tongue to keep from blurting out the truth to me.

"So, she is hiding something from me?" I said as more of a comment than a question as I stood up and walked out of the kitchen, heading to my room to get my cell phone.

"Who are you calling?" Alice asked in a worried tone when she saw me walk back out into the living room dialing someone's number.

"Rosalie," I simply answered. "I'm going to see if I can hear anyone in the background."

If Rosalie was truly with the guy she was keeping from me now, I would surely be able to hear him say something that would help me identify him. After all, I did have great hearing.

"Bella, don't do that!" Alice exclaimed, jumping up and running over to me only to grab the phone from my hand and throw it across the room.

"What the hell, Mary Alice?" I asked angrily using her full name as I was shocked by Alice's antics.

"You can not do that," she answered, biting her lower lip nervously. After a short moment of silence she reinerated, "You can't call, Rosalie."

I cocked an eyebrow at her and asked, "Why the hell not?"

"She will know you got something out me. She would never forgive me for it," Alice answered in a panicked tone.

"Mary Alice, you know I do not like secrets. Especially when they are being hidden from me," I hissed through clenched teeth.

"I am sorry," Alice apologized as she turned away from me. "But, if you knew who Rosalie was seeing you'd be angry with her, and your relationship with her would be ruined," Alice explained, shaking her head.

I reached out and put my hand on Alice's left shoulder, turning her around to face me again. Grabbing onto both of her shoulders tightly but not too tightly, I looked her dead in her eyes and asked, "Mary Alice, who is Rosalie seeing now?"

Alice opened her mouth to answer my question, but just as the words were about to leave her mouth, she decided not to and snapped her mouth shut. Alice shook her head frantically. Going by what she had just said, I knew that she wasn't going to tell me because she refused to indirectly be the reason that my relationship with Rosalie and her relationship with Rosalie were ruined.

Alice shrugged off my hands and backed up until she was a few feet away from me. Alice shook her head and apologized once again, confirming my suspicions, "I'm sorry, but I refuse to be the reason for the downfall of all three of ours relationships."

With that said, Alice grabbed her purse from the kitchen counter and ran through the mudroom and out the front door of the apartment. I was left standing there in the living room watching as my best friend and sister ran out of the apartment just as Rosalie had not that much earlier.

I absolutely hated when someone kept secrets from me. I hated it even more when the ones keeping whatever the secret was from me were my own family. Flesh and blood and adopted family to be exact, but all in all, Rosalie and Alice were both a part of my family.

Sighing and shaking my head in disbelief, I turned towards where my phone had landed when Alice threw it across the room, went over to it and picked it up. Looking around the room for a moment, I shook my head again before making my way out of the apartment.

**~Rosalie's POV~**

Cautiously, making sure that no one was around to witness what I was doing, I looked all around me before throwing open the passenger side door and practically throwing myself inside quickly slamming the door shut behind me.

"Sorry, I took longer than I said I would. I was a bit distracted," I apologized as I looked over at the guy sitting in the driver's seat and flashed him a smile.

"Was it Bella?" he asked taking a wild, correct guess.

I nodded my head. "The only thing she got out of me was that I was going to go hang out with a guy," I said with a sigh, leaning back in the seat.

"You didn't tell her who I was?" he asked as he started the cars engine.

"No, Quil, I did not. Unless, of course, you want her to kill us both?" I answered followed by a question of my own. "Believe me, despite the fact that you're in a gang, Bella could easily kill us both if she was mad enough," I added after a moment of silence.

"I am sure she could." Quil laughed. "Where do you wanna go?" he asked as we left the apartment parking lot.

I looked over at him, lifting my sunglasses up against my forehead as I raised an eyebrow. "You are letting me choose where we go?" I asked in slight disbelief.

Quil shrugged his shoulders and smirked at me, "Why not? I don't have to make all of the decisions, do I?"

"This is why I like you so much," I said honestly with a smirk of my own. "I could really go for some food," I added giving Quil my absolute best smile.

"Lunch it is," he replied. "Any place in particular?"

"I'm not really picky."

I smiled as I turned my head to look out the window. Placing my sunglasses back over my eyes, I smiled to myself. I honestly had no clue why everyone was so afraid of gangs. They truly are not all that bad...well not the ones I encountered personally. I couldn't truly speak for all gangs in the world. But then again looks as well as actions at times can truly be very deceiving.


	15. Chapter 14 - Just When Life Already Hit Rock Bottom

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Twilight. I only own the plot...sort of.

**~Bella's POV~**

I looked at my phone for what seemed like the millionth time in the past hour. The screen showed zero missed calls and zero text messages. I'd called and texted both Rosalie and Alice at least five times each and neither of them had called or texted me back yet. It wasn't like either of them to ever not call back.

Despite the fact that Alice and I had a slight falling out earlier in the morning, it wasn't an excuse as to why she hadn't called me back. The two of us never stayed mad at or distant from each other for too long. It just wouldn't be right if we did. Even when we were in the middle of disagreements, we always got back to each other sooner or later. Neither of us liked to stay on bad terms with each other for longer than necessary.

Shaking my head, I placed my cell phone back into my front pocket and continued walking down the crowded Miami sidewalk. As I walked down the sidewalk and window shopped something, or better yet someone, caught my eye. I abruptly stopped walking as I passed one of Miami's many restaurants. This one just so happened to have outside dining. Sitting at one of the tables was none other than Rosalie herself. She was sitting with a brown haired guy who had his back turned to me.

People walked around me as I stood frozen on the sidewalk watching as Rosalie talked to and laughed along with the guy she was with. Since his back was turned to me, I had no way of telling the identity of the guy. The only way that I would be able to find out his identity was to get closer, but then Rosalie would probably think that I was spying on her, which I wasn't exactly.

I stood there for a moment longer before an idea cam to me. Pulling my cellphone out of my pocket, I dialed Rosalie's number. I watched as Rosalie picked up her phone from the table and looked at the caller id. She sighed, shaking her head. I concentrated hard and read her lips as she told whoever she was sitting with that, "It's Bella again."

My eyes grew wide and my jaw practically dropped to the sidewalk when Rosalie pushed the end button and placed her phone back down onto the table. Then, she went back to talking, laughing, and having a good time as if I hadn't just called her at all.

"Damn her!" I exclaimed to myself, huffing as I crossed my arms over my chest and forced myself to not stomp my foot like a petulant child who'd just been told no.

I couldn't even begin to believe that Rosalie had ignored my call and played it off as nothing. That was so unlike her. Now I knew for sure that Rosalie was hiding something from me. She didn't want me to know the identity of the guy who was with her, which only meant one thing. She was hanging out with a guy that I would be pissed to know she was with. Not that it mattered what I thought. Even if I did dislike who she was with, it was her life and her decision to make about who she hung out with. If anything, she should tell me who the guy is so that I can learn to deal with who it was quicker.

Now I wanted nothing more than to find out who Rosalie was hiding from me. Until I knew the identity of Rosalie's new 'friend' I wouldn't be able to let it go. As much as I loved both Rosalie and Alice, I would stop at nothing to find out the mystery guy's identity...even if it meant ruining my relationships with the two girls even more. The three of us could easily patch up our relationships once everything was out and in the open.

Sighing, I shook my head and started walking again. As if my life wasn't already hectic enough, another obstacle was suddenly thrown at me. Walking my way was none other than, Edward. A scowl instantly took over my facial features. I hadn't heard from him in a while; he'd clearly been avoiding me and his next actions proved my suspicion even more.

I slowed my pace and watched him intently. The moment he saw me he froze dead in his tracks, looked at me for a short moment, and then turned and began speed walking the other way. My jaw dropped in shock and I could feel my blood begin to boil. No way was that how this was going to go down. Edward was not going to see me and then turn and try to hightail it away.

"Edward!" I yelled, not caring who heard and stared my way, as I started to rush after him.

Heads turned to watch me as I ran down the sidewalk like a bitch on a mission. The last thing I cared about then was what other people thought about me. If I was on my way to causing a big scene in the middle of the sidewalk, then so be it.

"Edward! Don't you dare speed walk away from me!" I hissed as I finally caught up to him.

With my good hand, I grabbed his arm and yanked at him so that he stumbled back and turned around to face me. The two of us stood in the middle of the sidewalk for what seemed like forever just glaring at each other. If looks could kill, then the two of us would have both been dead laying on the sidewalk by now, which was lucky for us that looks didn't have that much power.

"What the hell do you want from me, Bella?" Edward asked angrily.

"I want to know why you've been ignoring me for the past few days," I answered in a tone that matched his in anger.

"Why the hell else would I ignore you?" Edward asked rhetorically. "You cheated on me!" he exclaimed with such fury that for a quick second it took me by surprise.

I'd never seen Edward this pissed off before. However, he didn't have the right to be as pissed off at me as he seemed to be right now. Two wrongs do not make a right, but it wasn't more than a few months prior that Edward had cheated on me. I was pissed off at first and initially decided to give him a second chance once I calmed down as long as we took it slow this time around.

There was just one difference between him cheating on me and me cheating on him. That different was the fact that I had come clean to him about it as soon as I saw him after it had happened. Edward, on the other hand, had done everything he could to try and keep me from finding out. I ended up finding out from the girl he'd cheated with. It had been really screwed for me to have had to find out that way.

"Oh my god! Seriously, Edward! You cheated on me a few months ago and then tried to hide it from me; not to mention, you were fucking sober during it! Me, on the other hand, I drunkenly cheated on you, and then I confessed my mistake to you! I even gave your ass a second chance! How dare you act like what I did was the worst thing ever when you were no better. You act as if I don't deserve to be forgiven when you did the exact thing yourself; the differences between the two times being you were sober and then tried to hide it!"

Edward stood there speechless. I could see the wheels in his head turning. I had a point in what I'd said, but it still wasn't an excuse for what I had done. I wasn't going to guilt him into forgiving me, and I didn't expect any less. I didn't expect him to forgive me out of guilt. But I also didn't expect him to make it seem like what I did was worse than what he did. We'd both screwed up doing what we did. The difference now was that I could admit it but he still seemed like he couldn't.

"You're not going to guilt me into forgiving you, Bella!" Edward hissed, shaking his head as he turned around and stormed.

"I'm not trying to guilt you into forgiving me, you bastard! You just walk away like the coward you are!" I screamed after him. "Consider us broken up from this point on!" I added, breathing hard and clenching my fists at my side. "You just wait until I tell Emmett about this!" I huffed, turning back around and storming back to my apartment feeling angrier than I'd ever felt before in my life.

**~Jacob's POV~**

I paced back and forth impatiently in front of the stairs in the foyer as I waited for Quil to return from lunch with Rosalie. Quil had called me less than an hour ago saying that he had some good news to tell me. I as intrigued by the possible good news he could possibly tell me. There were many different ways that my mind took me.

The sound of the front door opening and closing stopped me dead in my tracks. I turned and looked towards the door to see Quil standing there with a smirk on his face. His smirk could've easily rivaled my own signature smirk.

"Boss." His smirk never faltered.

"What's the good news you have for me?" I asked, crossing my arms across my chest as I waited impatiently for his answer.

"Bella is back on the free market," Quil answered immediately, not making me wait any longer for the news.

I raised an eyebrow. "You know this for sure?" I questioned him, wanting to be sure.

"I saw it go down with my own eyes," Quil answered with a simple nod of his head. "I was at lunch with Rosalie when it all went down. I'm willing to bet everyone within a ten mile radius of the restaurant witnessed it." He laughed.

"It seems to me that I need to pay Bella a visit." I smirked my signature smirk as I glanced at Quil who has a knowing look in his eyes.

"I'll call Rosalie and find out if she knows where Bella is," Quil said, pulling his cell phone out of his pocket.

I nodded before sinking into my own little world. Now that Edward was no longer in the equation, I had a better shot at getting Bella right where I wanted her. It wouldn't be much longer until she was finally mine.

"Boss," Quil spoke up, bringing me back to reality.

"Where is she?" I asked him anxiously.

"She's at her apartment," Quil answered as he put his phone away.

"Take her out tonight so Bella's the only one there."

"I am already two steps ahead of you," Quil told me. "Just wait until midnight before you go over."

"Why?"

"It seems that Bella went out and got herself a job. She gets off work at 11:00 and doesn't get home until around midnight."

"Where does she work?" I questioned as an idea came to me.

"The Forge."

My smirk suddenly turned into a sick, sadistic grin.

Noticing the change of expression on my face, Quil asked, "What do you have planned?"

"I'm going to be there when she gets off work."

**~Bella's POV~**

It was finally 11:00 and I couldn't have been happier. Work had been extremely exhausting. Dealing with people for six straight hours sucked so bad at times. All I wanted to do now was go home, take a very long and relaxing shower, and curl up in bed with a good movie on the tv to lull me to sleep.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Angela!" I called out to my boss as I grabbed my purse from under the hostess podium.

"Alright, have a good night!" Angela called back.

"You, too," I replied with a smile before heading out the front door of The Forge.

I yawned tiredly and stretched my arms over my head as I started walking down the deserted sidewalk. My apartment was only a block away so I thankfully didn't have too far to walk. It usually only took about ten minutes to get from one place to the other.

As I was walking, I started to hear footsteps behind me. On most occasions, I would think it was my own footsteps since I always wore heels and they constantly clinked against the sidewalk; but the footsteps I was hearing now were not from heels.

I sped up my walking and reached my hand into my purse for my pepper spray. I was ready to pull it out, aim, and spray at a moments notice if the situation came down to it. I glanced over my shoulder every once in a while. The footsteps would stop abruptly each time I looked back and no one would be there.

I couldn't see anyone around me but my gut told me that there was someone other than me around. I wasn't imaging things; I was definitely not crazy. Although, sometimes I would do things and say things that would make people believe otherwise. But I was certain this was not one of those instances that I could possibly be crazy.

"Looking for someone?" a familiar voice asked, causing me to freeze in my tracks mid-step.

My eyes widened and I swallowed down the lump that immediately formed in my throat. Biting my lower lip, I slowly turned around to face the person that the voice belonged to. If I had thought that my life couldn't get any worse than it already was, then Jacob Black standing right in front of me was proof that I had been beyond wrong.


	16. Chapter 15 - Worst Enemy Turned Savior

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Twilight. I only own the plot...sort of.

**~Bella's POV~**

I stood frozen in my spot for what felt like an eternity, but was really just a minute or two at least. I was silently battling with myself over whether or not I should turn around to face him or make a run for it. If I turned around then I'd have to face Jacob. If I ran then I'd still be able to continue trying to keep him in my past. At the same time, if I ran...he was sure to follow right after me. So basically no matter what I chose to do, I was more or less screwed either way.

Closing my eyes for a brief second and taking in a deep breath, I slowly turned around as I reopened my eyes. I decided that facing Jacob now was a much smarter choice and it was the choice with the best possible outcome. At least by facing him now and getting it over with, I had the opportunity to remind him that I meant it when I said that I wanted nothing to do with him anymore period.

"Miss me?" Jacob asked with the smirk that I had honestly grown to hate since the first time I'd met him; I'd never known that I could actually hate a smirk so much.

"What the hell are you doing on this side of the boundary line?" I asked, ignoring his question. "Are you trying to get yourself killed?" I then asked surprising myself entirely with the question.

What kind of question was that coming from me? Why the hell did I even care about what he was doing?

"Why else would I be here?" Jacob asked in return, thankfully either missing the surely there surprised look on my face or just being considerate for once and not shoving the curiousness of the question back in my face.

Deep down I really did know exactly why Jacob was here, but I didn't want to think about or even admit it to myself. I knew that he had a rather sick obsession with me. He hadn't really been doing anything to hide it from me, or anyone to be honest. I most certainly didn't want to admit to myself that I was the reason why he now did half the things that he did.

"No," I said sternly as I shook my head. "No way! I told you already that I wanted nothing to do with you anymore! I want you out of my life for good! I'm not the reason why you're here!" I exclaimed refusing to believe what I knew was in fact the truth.

"You know you don't mean any of that." Jacob smirked, making to motion of stepping closer to me.

"I do mean it! I mean it all!" I insisted, taking a step back to match his.

Jacob shook his head. "No, you really don't."

"Yes, yes I do!" I told him, biting my lower lip nervously as I continued to back up away from him. "Don't think that you know more about what I'm thinking than I do!"

"There's no need to lie to yourself, Bella. You know you want me just as much as I want you," Jacob looked me in my eyes as he said it.

I shook my head frantically and broke eye contact as quickly as I could. "No, you're wrong! You're dead wrong! I don't want you! I. Am. Never. Going. To. Want. You!" I hissed, making sure to punctuate ever word of my last sentence to make a bigger impact than just simply saying them.

All I had to do was think it and say it to myself over and over again and I'd be able to make myself believe that I truly didn't want him. Honestly, at the current moment in time, I really did not want him. Well, okay maybe I did a little bit. But the more I thought about that night when Jacob more or less took advantage of me (I was still woman enough to admit that I was slightly at fault for what happened...I wasn't completely innocent in that situation) the more I could honestly say that I didn't want him like he wanted me.

"Are you sure about that?" Jacob questioned trying to coax me into admitting that I did.

"Oh, I'm sure," I said in a matter-of-fact tone of voice. "Now if you wouldn't have taken advantage of me a few nights ago then maybe a small part of me would want you like you want me," I confessed for whatever reason I did, folding my arms across my chest.

Jacob raised an eyebrow. "Is that so?" he asked in a tone that I couldn't quite figure out.

I nodded my head yes instead of answering with words.

"If I remember correctly I gave you a chance to back out, but you didn't," Jacob informed her suddenly.

I immediately felt my blood run cold. I knew it! I fucking knew it! I had known all along that something from that night would be used against me eventually. No matter what happened there was always something that I found that was able to be used against me.

"Damn it!" I hissed, slapping a hand against my forehead and forcing my eyes shut as I shook my head in disbelief.

I just couldn't believe my luck as of late. It seemed as if lately, everything was going against me for some unknown reason. If it wasn't one thing, then it was definitely another. I honestly couldn't think of anything that I had said or done that had warranted my luck to turn against me this much.

After freaking out about my screwed up luck for an unknown amount of time, I dropped my hand and opened my eyes again. A gasp tore it's way from my throat when I realized that during my time of freaking out, Jacob had moved a slightly uncomfortable amount of space closer to me. Our faces were now, literally, only inches apart.

A shiver crawled it's way up my spine. I tried to take a step back, but couldn't; I was frozen in place. It was as if the soles of my shoes has been glued to the sidewalk. Or maybe the sidewalk was now quicksand that was, inch by inch, engulfing me whole. Either way it seemed as if I was stuck.

"What do you think you're doing?" I asked as I looked Jacob dead in his eyes.

Before I could even process what the hell was happening, I felt a hand on the back of my head and I was pulled forward into a mind-blowing kiss. I was taken back at first and didn't do anything except stand there like a dumbass. But then I abruptly came back to my senses and brought my hands up to Jacob's chest and pushed with all of my might.

"What the hell?" I asked in outrage, slapping him across the face with my good hand.

I seemed to be doing a lot of that lately. Honestly, each and every time I slapped Jacob across the face, I felt a sense of relief as well as slight power over him. After all, he never actually did anything back to me when I did. So, of course, the feeling of power was only a slap away.

"Is an answer really needed for that question?" Jacob asked, looking at me with a look that could only be described as a look that would make any other girl want to drop dead.

"You can't just fucking kiss me after everything you've done!" I hissed refusing to bow down to the look.

"After everything I've done?" Jacob asked, cocking an eyebrow.

"You ruined my relationship!" I responded angrily.

Jacob laughed. "I ruined your relationship?"

I nodded furiously. "Yes, yes you did!"

"Last time I checked it takes two to..." Jacob started to say before I abruptly cut him off.

"Don't you even finish that sentence!" I exclaimed, glaring at him.

After that transpired, there was suddenly a rather awkward moment of silence between the two of us.

"I have to go now," I said, breaking the silence as I quickly turned to walk away without another word. It was then that I remembered something that I had almost forgotten to remind Jacob about. Turning back around for a brief second, I said in all seriousness, "This time try to remember that I want nothing to do with you ever again!"

And now with that, I turned back around and walked quickly down the sidewalk not looking back even once.

After my unexpected and unwanted run in with Jacob, the last thing I felt like doing was going straight home. Therefore, I took the long way home instead of the short way. It seemed like a good idea to go through with...at first. I was almost all the way relaxed due to my refreshing walk by the time I was about half a block from home.

I soon learned, though, that the idea to take the long way home wasn't exactly the smartest idea after all. Just as I had when Jacob appeared, I began to hear the sound of footsteps walking behind me. Thinking that it was probably Jacob again, I stopped walking and turned around with a huff of frustration at the fact that Jacob didn't listen to what I'd said yet again.

"What the hell is it now, Ja..." I started, but my words were silenced before I could finish.

As soon as I saw who was behind me, I began to shake nervously. The guy that I was looking at right now was certainly not Jacob. But he was certainly someone that I knew, and even more so than Jacob, had never ever wanted to see in my life again.

"It's been a while," the guy said with a sick and sadistic smirk on his face.

"What the hell are you doing here, Mike?" I asked after finding my voice again. "How the hell did you even know I lived here in Miami? No one told you when we moved here from Panama," I said, trying to figure everything out.

"I followed you here. I've been watching you from afar for the past year, but now I've finally decided to come out of the shadows," Mike explained in a twisted tone of voice.

"No, no." I shook my head. "You need to stay away from me!" I yelled at him before quickly turning and trying to make a run for it.

I let out a really loud scream as I felt myself be pushed forward and down onto the hard concrete sidewalk. Instinctively, I put my hands out in front of me to break my fall and save my face from getting rearranged upon impact. For the most part, putting my hands in front of me was a good idea, but because of the cast on my hand and a part of my face hitting the cast, I knew that I'd have a black eye later on.

I started kicking to the best of my ability and continued screaming as I felt myself being dragged off of the sidewalk and into the alleyway nearby. Mike had a hold of both of my feet, so kicking my way out of his grasp was a lot harder than it should've been.

"SOMEBODY HELP ME!" I yelled as loud as I could before my feet hit the ground and I was pulled up and pushed against the cold, hard brick wall.

"Shut the fuck up!" Mike hissed, slapping a hand over my mouth while his other hand found it's way around my neck.

I used my good hand to grab at Mike's hand that was around my neck and tried as hard as I could to get him to let my neck go. No matter how hard I tried to get him to release me, his hand only tightened. I felt my airway slowly start to close and panicked. The only thought going through my head right then was that I was probably going to die. And the thought terrified me. It wasn't my time to go yet. I still had my whole life ahead of me. This couldn't be it, it just couldn't be.

"Unlike last time we were in this situation, your brother isn't here to save you," Mike laughed evilly, taking his hand off of my mouth, but leaving the other one wound tightly around my neck.

"But I am," I suddenly heard a familiar voice say.

I had never been happier to hear his voice. For once, I was grateful that he ignored my instance that he never come anywhere near me again. Mike was suddenly violently pulled off of me. I was instantly gasping for air as I brought my good hand up to her neck. Mike had had such a tight grip on my neck that it still felt like his hand was around my neck.

I stayed as close to the wall as I could as I continued to gasp for air uncontrollably. I was already in bad enough shape and I didn't want to accidentally get in the middle of the on going fight that I was currently witnessing.

Once I regained enough of my breath back, I slowly slid down the wall until I was sitting on the dirty ground. My eyes fluttered closed as I pulled my knees up to the rest of my body and rested my head on my knees. Thanks to the hit that my cast had accidentally given my eye, I couldn't seem to be able to keep my eyes open.

It felt like years before my breathing was completely back to normal and that she no longer heard any sounds of a fight going on. I was curious as to what the outcome of the fight had been, but I was still a bit too afraid to try to open my eyes to see. At the moment, I was perfectly content with staying in my current position.

I suddenly let out a loud yelp as I felt myself get lifted off of the ground. I was now in a standing postition, but judging by the way I was swaying from side to side, I was in no condition to walk. Before I knew it, I was being picked up bridal style.

Slowly opening my eyes slightly, I looked up to see who was carrying me. I couldn't help the small smile that made its way across my lips when I saw that it was Jacob. To think that I had slapped him yet again not even half an hour ago and now here he was coming to my rescue. I really didn't understand him much at all.

I opened my mouth and started to say, "Th..."

A pain shot through my throat and I stopped talking abruptly. I quickly realized that it hurt beyond belief to try to say even a single word. As if on que, tears formed in my eyes and began to roll their way down my heated and beet red cheeks. As much as I didn't want to cry in front of Jacob, I couldn't help myself.

"Don't cry. It's okay. I've got you now," Jacob said soothingly.

I was slightly taken back by Jacob's words as well as the sound of his voice. Never before had I seen or heard of Jacob having a soft side. But now that I had...if only he would stick to the soft side of him more then maybe I could actually somehow see myself with him in the future. With that unexpected and nice thought in mind, I closed my eyes and was out like a light.


	17. Chapter 16 - Who Said Anything About Acting?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Twilight. I only own the plot...sort of.

**~Jacob's POV~**

I paced angrily back and forth in front of the bed where Bella was currently sleeping. Every so often I would stop for a few seconds to look over her sleeping firm. It was honestly a relief for me to finally be in the presence of Bella without her yelling or glaring at me over something I'd heard her bitch and moan about hundreds of times already.

My eyes slowly moved over Bella's figure, taking in every small detail of her that the moonlight allowed me to see. She was laying on her back on top of the comforter with one hand placed on her stomach and the other laying at her side. The hand on her stomach had caused her shirt to ride up just a bit, revealing a small line of the perfectly tanned skin of her flat stomach. I watched intently as her stomach slowly moved up and down; her breathing was labored at the moment and she was sleeping peacefully.

My fists instinctively clenched at my sides when my eyes landed on her neck. A faint, but still noticeable, red mark on her neck showed signs of her having almost been strangled to death only an hour or so ago. The hand print on Bella's neck was a reminder to me that the events from earlier had indeed happened. That fact had my blood boiling within me. I could feel my anger coursing through my veins like a drug that I'd just inhaled.

A quiet knock at the door stole my attention away from Bella. Glancing one last time at Bella's sleeping form, I turned and made my way to the door. I twisted the knob and opened the door, walking out quietly and shutting it behind me.

"We went to check the alley like you said," Quil informed me, putting his hands in his pockets.

"Was he still where I left him?" I asked as I looked from Quil to Embry to Seth and then back to Quil.

All three guys shook their heads.

"He was long gone," Embry answered, keeping his eyes lowered to the ground.

"There wasn't any sign of anyone ever being there in the first place," Seth told me, following Embry's lead and refusing to make eye contact with me.

I raised an eyebrow and a scowl formed on my face. "There was no blood?" I asked with anger and disappointment clear in my voice.

Shaking his head and mimicking my tone of voice, Seth answered, "None at all."

"He must've wiped it clean or something," Embry said still trying to figure out how he could've done it.

"Keep an eye out for him just in case he decides to come after Bella again," I ordered sternly.

"Will do, boss," Quil, Embry, and Seth all assured me with a nod of their heads.

Just then a scream tore it's way through the mansion. The scream had come from behind the door leading to the guest room where Bella was staying. Without even thinking, I instantly turned and burst through the door behind me.

**~Third Person POV~**

_"SOMEBODY HELP ME!" Bella exclaimed as she ran down a deserted alley._

_Something or someone was chasing her and no matter how close she got to the other end of the alley it only seemed to grow longer and longer; it was like she was in a Stephen King movie. She could hear the sound of loud, shuffling footsteps behind her. The faster she ran the louder and closer the footsteps got to her._

_Suddenly, Bella felt herself run into a hard surface. Looking up she realized that she had hit a brick wall. The brick wall had appeared out of nowhere because it wasn't there seconds before then. Bella realized in terror that she had hit a dead end._

_An evil laugh filled the air and Bella could feel cold wet tears begin to fall from her eyes and slide down her face. Frantically, Bella began pounding against the brick wall in hopes that maybe if she hit it hard enough that it'd disappear, but it didn't. Her efforts proved to not be enough to do anything to help._

_The evil laugh grew louder and louder and before Bella could even think about doing anything else she felt a hand on her shoulder. She opened her mouth to scream, but another hand was instantly slapped over her mouth muffling the sound of her screams._

**~Bella's POV~**

I woke up with a jolt more or less screaming bloody murder. My screaming instantly stopped, though, when I felt an awful stinging sensation in my throat because of what had happened to me earlier at the hands of Mike. Tears were pouring down my face uncontrollably, and I was drenched in a terribly cold sweat.

I sat up wherever I was laying just as the door to the right of me flew open and the lights flickered on to reveal Jacob rushing over to me. Even though I was crying and my eyesight was a bit blurry because of the tears, the sight of Jacob surprisingly caused a small smile to sneak its way onto my face.

"Are you okay?" Jacob asked in honest concern that shocked me slightly as he sat down next to me on what I now knew was a bed.

I nodded my head yes even though we both knew it was a lie. "I just had a nightmare," I managed to say despite the fact that my throat was very much against the action.

"Do you want to tell me about it?" Jacob asked softly not wanting me to feel like he was pressuring me to tell him about it.

I shook my head no immediately as my tears came to an abrupt stop. "No, not that, but I do wanna talk about..." I started to say, but paused when the pain in my throat grew again.

A distraction from my nightmare was much needed right now and having this conversation now instead of later would be the perfect distraction.

"You wanna talk about what?" Jacob asked, raising an eyebrow out of curiosity over what I could possibly want to talk about.

I put one of my fingers up as a way to tell him to wait a second. After the pain in my throat subsided for the moment, I finished, "I want to talk about why you are acting like you are."

"What do you mean?" Jacob questioned, his curiosity growing.

"I mean...you're acting like...like you actually care," I said as the pain returned again and in turn made me realize that the pain in my throat was really annoying.

"Who says I'm acting?" Jacob proposed, catching me completely off guard.

I stared at him with wide eyes. I opened my mouth to say something in return but quickly closed it again. I wasn't even aware of any way to currently respond to his proposed thought. Deciding that I'd rather not get into that until I was back to my normal self and had my thoughts all together, I instantly changed the subject.

"Could you get me a glass of water?" I asked him. "And two Advil or Tylenol," I added after a short moment of silence.

Jacob nodded his head. "Sure," he replied, standing up and making his way to the bedroom door.

Holy shit! What the hell was I supposed to think after that revelation? Did he mean it like he wasn't acting and he meant to act like he cares? Did he really care and meant to propose the idea of him meaning it? Or did he just say that to confused and torture me further? This night was truly on its way to going down as both the worst and the most confusing night of my life.

**~Jacob's POV~**

I could tell by the fact that Bella quickly changed the subject that she wasn't ready to know the real truth just yet. To be honest,, I wasn't too sure myself whether or not I wanted to tell Bella how I really felt about her. Quite frankly, I wasn't even sure what my true feelings for her were. All I knew was that what I was feeling for her was not anything I had ever felt for anyone before in my entire life.

Not to mention, I was a very feared gang leader and I wasn't supposed to feel the things that I was feeling. Those types of feeling would just get in the way. It wasn't in my nature to feel this way. Plus, I was suppose to be a badass and all. If I confessed my true and confusing feelings for Bella, I would be jeopardizing not only my position as gang leader of the south side of town, but also Bella's safety.

The last thing that I needed was for the other gangs in town, whether they be small gangs or big gangs, to know that I may or may not be falling for a certain girl. I knew enough to know that if that got out, then every single one of the other gangs would be gunning for Bella in order to bring me and my own gang down.

"Hey, Jacob," Bella called after me in nothing above a whisper, but still loud enough to get my attention.

"Yeah?" I asked, turning to face her again

"I just wanna thank you...umm...for saving me earlier." Bella smiled briefly.

"Anytime," I responded. "Speaking of earlier...who was that guy?" I asked, deciding that now would be as good of a time to ask as any other would be.

Bella sighed. "His name is Mike Newton. He used to be a friend of my brother's," Bella answered, looking down at her hands. "I really don't wanna get into it about him right now," she said, shaking her head.

"Fair enough. I won't force you to tell me anything you don't want to," I told her before turning back around and walking out of the bedroom closing the door behind me.

I angrily and determinedly made my way downstairs. The sound of my footsteps on the steps alerted Quil, Embry, and Seth that I was coming down and all three of them made their ways into the foyer to find out what I was clearly angry about.

"What's going on?" Quil was the first to speak up.

"Quil, Embry...I want you two to come with me. Seth, I want you to stay here and watch over Bella for me," I commanded, ignoring Quil's question for the moment.

"Where are we going?" Embry dared to ask even though all three of them knew not to normally ask me questions.

"We are going to go find someone," I answered simply without going into detail as I looked at both Quil and Embry. I then turned to Seth and said, "Get Bella a glass of water and two Advil and take them up to her."

Seth nodded in understanding as he turned without a word and made his way towards the kitchen.

"I take it she told you the guy's name?" Quil asked already knowing the answer to his question but asking it anyways.

"We're going to end this before it can even start," I answered the question in my own way. "Get your guns just in case we need them," I ordered. "There's no telling if he's on his own or if he has back up."

**~Bella's POV~**

Once the door was closed and I was once again alone in the room, I slowly and quietly got off of the bed and made my way into the bedroom's adjoining bathroom. I took a deep breath and flicked on the currently much too bright bathroom light and walked inside, shutting the door behind me.

Snapping my eyes shut, I used my right hand and my left hand fingers to feel around the bathroom counter and maneuvered myself until I stood facing the mirror that hung on the wall above the sink. Taking another deep breath, I braced myself for what I was about to see and slowly opened my eyes.

A gasp tore its way from my throat when I finally saw the damage that Mike had left behind. Mike's hand print was as faint but still clear as day on my neck. The handprint looked just like I felt. I shook my head in disbelief as I turned on the sink faucet and leaned down to splash cold water on my face.

Standing up straight again, I reached over for the towel hanging on the towel rack. I was in the midst of wiping my face dry when I heard the bedroom door open and then close again. Thinking that it was probably just Jacob, I didn't say anything and instead just continued wiping the water off of my face and periodically looked into the mirror at myself in disgust.

"Bella!" a voice that was definitely not Jacob's called out.

I quickly folded the hand towel that I was holding and placed it on the bathroom counter. Turning off the light, I put my hand on the door knob, twisted it, and then pulled it open. I silently made my way back into the bedroom and walked over to the bed, sitting down on it.

"Where's Jacob?" I asked, looking up to find Seth standing there.

"He had some business to go take care of," he answered, holding out a glass of water and two Advil.

I offered him a small smile of thank you as I took the Advil and put them in my mouth and drank them down with the water. Once I was finished with the water, I turned and leaned over to place the glass onto the bedside table. Then I turned my full attention back to Seth.

"He went to find Mike, didn't he?" I asked already knowing the answer before the question even left my mouth.

Seth nodded, confirming my suspicion. "He's really angry about what happened earlier," he informed me.

I shook my head and sighed as my emotions started to get to me again. "I figured he would be," I said quietly, looking down at my hands and playing with the white gauze wrapped around it.

"You know Jacob really does care about you," Seth told me and by the sound of his voice it was before he could stop himself.

I suddenly ceased my movements with my hands and looked up at Seth. "I'm sorry, what did you just say?" I asked not sure if I was hearing correctly or if my ears were just playing a cruel trick on me.

"I see the way he looks at you," Seth answered seemingly deciding that he'd already brought up the conversation so continuing it couldn't be any worse.

"The way he looks at me?" I said questioningly.

Seth nodded. "He looks at you like he's never looked at any other girl. You're different than all the others he's been with. He truly does care about you," he explained, the look on his face giving away the fact that he didn't necessarily mean to tell me this' he wasn't able to stop himself now that he'd started telling me.

When I didn't respond for some time, Seth decided that maybe he had said too much too soon. "Oh, I've said too much, haven't I?! I'm just going to go downstairs and leave you alone. Call me if you need anything else," he said before turning and fleeing the room like a horse right out of the gate at a race track.

I sat there, wide eyed and speechless, after Seth left and the door shut behind him. I almost couldn't even begin to believe what I had just heard. Even more than that, I honestly couldn't believe that I had heard it all from someone other than Jacob. But hearing it from someone other than him did make it seem like it could truly be true. So, now the question was...was it really the truth? Two people saying the same things within minutes of each other could only mean it's the truth, right?


	18. Chapter 17 - Always Hurt The Closest Ones To You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Twilight. I only own the plot...sort of.

**~Bella's POV~**

I tossed and turned trying to get some sleep while I waited for Jacob's return. I had debated whether or not to leave because I desperately wanted nothing more than to be at home in my own bed, but decided against it. No matter how much I wanted to go home now, I wasn't stupid enough not to think about the fact that Mike was still out there probably hiding in the shadows. I decided I would wait until morning when the sun came up. The sunlight would make me feel much safer going outside on my own again.

I absolutely loathed the fact that Mike had already managed to ruin the night for me. Not just that night, but night in general. Until I knew for a fact that Mike was out of the picture for good, I would now fear going outside alone at night. The night had always been one of my favorite times and I often times would go take nightly walks alone along the beach; that was over for now. Damn him!

To think that just the other day my biggest worry was that Jacob would show up in my life again and cause more havoc. After Mike attacking me earlier Jacob in my life now looked like a cake walk. I never thought I'd say it, but I really would do almost anything to turn back time a few days and go back to Jacob being my biggest worry. He was truly the lesser of two evils in this scenario.

"This freaking sucks!" I exclaimed, throwing the covers off of myself and getting out of bed.

It was no use to continue trying to go to sleep. My brain refused to shut off long enough for me to get a break. I was aware of why I couldn't sleep, though. If I did, the nightmare might return again. Well that and there was also the fact that I was conditioned to go to sleep with the tv on in the background. I never could sleep without it anymore these days.

Sighing, I made my way to the door and exited the room. Unlike the first time, the sight in front of me didn't surprise me. This was the second time I'd been in the mansion and the second time I'd opened the door and walked out to take in the sight of the grand staircase in front of me.

Making my way downstairs, I allowed myself to look around this time. I couldn't imagine ever living in a place like this. Just the thought of having to clean this mansion made me feel faint. Although, I guess anyone who owned a mansion like this was sure to have the money to hire a made. Or two. Or even three or four.

"Seth!" I called out when I stepped onto the foyer floor, looking around to see if he was anywhere in my view.

"Yeah?" he replied, walking into the foyer from a room at the left.

I turned towards him.

"I can't sleep," I said with a frown. "Is there a tv around here that I can watch to pass the time until Jacob gets back or daybreak? Whichever comes first."

Seth nodded his head towards the living room. "I'm sure Jacob wouldn't mind if you used the one in the living room."

I smiled briefly before turning towards the living room. "Thank you."

"If you need anything else just let me know!" Seth called after me.

If Seth wasn't one of the sweetest guys that I ever met then I'm an astronaut. I couldn't help but wonder how someone who seemed as sweet as Seth could've possibly become a gang member. Unless his sweetness was all just an act and he was actually a terrible person underneath. I just could not imagine that being the case, though, and I'm usually a really good judge of character.

Entering the living room, I grabbed the remote and situated myself comfortably on the couch. It was about four or so in the morning so there wasn't much on other than paid programming. After channel surfing I managed to find a channel playing reruns of old shows like Friends. I watched a couple of them back to back for an hour or so before Jacob returned.

I was watching the third or fourth episode of Friends when the front door opened roughly and was slammed closed seconds later. I turned to look towards the foyer to find Jacob standing there. His body language was more than enough to show he was angry. Although, the slamming door had already taken care of that. His body language just confirmed that he was angry.

Turning of the tv, I stood up from the couch and made my way to the foyer.

"What's wrong boss?" Seth asked, rushing into the foyer.

"It seems like he's under the protection of McCarty's gang," Jacob spat as he paced back and forth in the foyer.

My eyes widened as I leaned against the doorframe and I forced myself to hold back a gasp. "That's impossible," I muttered under my breath, shaking my head as I refused to believe it.

There was no way in a million years that my brother would protect Mike after everything. Jacob's sources had to be wrong because just no. My brother would never betray me like that. No matter how awful of a person he may be to others, he would never be anything like that to me. He was my big brother and he loved me more than he even loved himself.

Jacob stopped pacing and turned to me. "What did you say?"

I shook my head and shrugged my shoulders nonchalantly. "I didn't say anything."

Jacob gave me a look that said he didn't necessarily believe me, but he didn't question me on it. Oh, no, not on that. He decided to question me on something even bigger and I immediately wished he'd questioned me on what he thought he heard me say instead.

"You said earlier that Mike used to be a friend of your brothers."

Jacob remembered what I had said from earlier. This was bad. This was very bad.

"Yeah, and?"

I played it off as cool as I could, like the thought of saying anything else didn't scare me and make me want the floor to open and swallow me whole in that moment in time.

"Why would your brother be friends with a gang member?" Jacob asked the question I had been dreading him to ask.

Shrugging my shoulders, I answered as coolly as I could, "He wasn't always in a gang. Or at least not to my knowledge."

Jacob raised an eyebrow. "You are not telling me the truth."

"Yes, I am," I told him, putting on my best poker face to try to throw him off the fact that he was actually right. "He was friends with my brother until my brother went off to the army and then he got all stalkerish towards me and I ran away and moved here."

So maybe I wasn't telling the whole entire truth. But I was telling some of it. I didn't say which brother so I was telling the truth because my other brother Jasper did join the army and Jasper just as much as Emmett was sort of friends with Mike before he left. Mike really did get stalkerish towards me and I did sort of run away to here to stay with Emmett.

Emmett had moved to Miami a few months or so before I did. I had stayed with Jasper until he went overseas. So technically I was not lying now, I was just thinking about how to word my explanation carefully enough to keep all of it the truth without revealing my secret.

Jacob opened his mouth to say something else; I made sure to beat him to it.

"Have you seen my phone by chance?" I asked quickly changing the subject before I accidentally said something that I would regret and couldn't take back, glancing around to see if I saw it anywhere.

Jacob shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. "Nope, haven't seen it. You must have dropped it earlier during the scuffle because I never saw it and picked it up."

I sighed, getting ready to accept the fact that I would need to probably get a new phone when suddenly a familiar ringing sound filled the room.

Crossing my arms over my chest as I looked to where the sound was coming from, I chuckled in disbelief. "Are you sure? 'Cause that doesn't sound like you never saw it and picked it up."

"Must've slipped my mind."

I scoffed and made my way over to where my phone was. Moving the pillow that was covering it, I picked it up and turned on my heel to make my way back upstairs.

"It's always five steps forward and one hundred steps back with you," I said angrily as I passed by Jacob. "I'll be leaving here as soon as the sun comes up."

With that being said, I stormed up the stairs and into the guest room. I made sure that I slammed the door hard enough that it was heard throughout the entire mansion. Or at least half of the place.

That one little lie about my phone was all that I needed to confirm that the whole, "who said anything about it being an act," was exactly that...an act. If he would lie about something as simple as having not seen and picked up my phone then he definitely could lie about whether his actions were an act or not.

* * *

True to my word, just as I had told Jacob I would, the moment the sun came up over the horizon, I was gone. I made my way past the gates and headed for the boundary line. When I was halfway there I called Emmett and asked him to come pick me up. Most of my missed calls and texts on my cellphone, once I'd gotten it back, had been from him and I figured it'd probably be best to just get everything over with now.

If the way he had sounded over the phone was any indication of his mood towards me right now...I was going to play every card I had to make him less angry with me. My thoughts were that maybe if he saw the still somewhat noticeable handprint on my neck then maybe it would make him go easier on me for not answering his texts or calling him back before now. There were more pressing matters to contend with than him being mad at me and the handprint would show him that more than I could convince him with words.

By the time I made it to the boundary line, Emmett was there. He was leaning against the hood of his car with his arms crossed and his mouth set in a straight line. His body language was exactly like how he'd sounded on the phone when I'd called him. The moment he saw me, he pushed off of the car and stalked towards me.

He started to say something until he got close enough to see me; or better yet close enough to see the handprint on my neck. His mouth closed and his eyes widened. He went from mad at me to mad at whoever left the handprint in a matter of seconds. I had been right. His anger wasn't towards me anymore, it was towards whoever was stupid enough to harm his baby sister.

"Isabella, what..." Emmett started to ask, reaching out slowly to tilt my head back so he could get a better view of my neck. "Who did this to you?" he spat angrily, the tone of voice and the look of murder in his eyes teaming up to cause me to jump back.

I knew that he was pissed off, but even so, he didn't usually let his anger out around me. He usually waited until I wasn't around to get that angry. I was almost afraid to tell him about Mike. If he was that angry already then I could only imagine how angry he'd be when I actually answered his question.

Noticing me jump back, Emmett's demeanor changed drastically. He managed to hold his anger at bay and remain calm around me. Stepping forward and reaching towards me again, he slowly traced the handprint on my neck. Although he did manage to remain calm this time, the look of disgust was evident in his eyes and on his face.

"Who did this to you?" he asked again in a calmer tone this time.

"Promise me to not let your anger get the best of you," I told him, my tone of voice was one pleading with him to listen to me.

"What..." Emmett started.

I put a hand in the air and stopped him. "Promise me," I said again, making sure I looked him dead in his eyes to show him just how serious I was about this.

Emmett looked like he was going to protest but chose not to when he looked back into my eyes. "Okay, I promise," he replied sincerely.

Taking a deep breath and breaking eye contact, I practically whispered, "It was Mike."

There was no reply.

I dared to look up and almost cowered back again when I saw how angry he was. He was trying to keep his promise to me by not letting his anger out in front of me, but it wasn't easy. He was shaking so much that I was sure he was seconds away from turning green, bursting out of his clothes, and turning into the incredible hulk or at the very least an angrier and very not children friendly version of Shrek.

"Emmett," I said quietly.

He stared straight ahead and didn't acknowledge that he'd heard me.

"Who did you say did that to you?" Emmett asked again, knowing the answer but probably hoping that he'd heard wrong.

"You heard me the first time I answered," I told him, looking away. "Please don't make me say his name again."

What happened next honestly surprised me to no end.

Emmett rushed forward and wrapped his arms around me, pulling me into a crushing and breathtaking hug. He was a great big brother but I wasn't used to him being so hands on. Although, knowing him as well as I do, I had a feeling that this sudden hands on personality of his had a lot to do with the fact that he felt like he'd let me down by not being there to prevent what happened.

"I am so sorry about this Bella," Emmett whispered as he kissed the top of my head.

Wrapping my arms around him as tightly as he was holding me, I shook my head. "You have absolutely nothing to apologize for," I assured him.

Suddenly I remembered what Jacob had said earlier.

_It seems like he's under the protection of McCarty's gang._

"That is unless..." I trailed off as I pulled back to look up at him. "Please tell me that you didn't know that he was back."

Emmett's silence spoke volumes.

"Oh god," I gasped, covering my mouth with my hand as tears formed in my eyes.

"Bella, let me explain," Emmett practically begged me.

I shook my head, backing away slowly. "The rumors are true," I said in disbelief.

"What rumors?" Emmett asked, confused. "Bella, please..."

"No, don't!" I exclaimed as I suddenly backed into the side of a building. "How could you?" I asked before turning and running away.

Emmett called after me but I ignored him. My own brother who I loved dearly and looked up to...he had betrayed me. I could not even look at him, let alone talk to him or listen to his explanation right now. How could he do this to me?


	19. Chapter 18 - Bella and the No Good, Very Bad Morning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Twilight. I only own the plot...sort of.

**~Bella's POV~**

After the crazy and screwed up morning I'd had all I wanted to do was go home, take a relaxing shower, and curl up in my bed under the covers and sleep the day away. But apparently the universe had other plans for me instead.

A scream tore from my throat as I stared wide eyed at the sight in front of me. The last thing I'd expected to see when I entered my apartment was none other than Quil coming out of Rosalie's bedroom...in nothing but his boxers.

Quil stopped, frozen in place, turning slowly towards me with a guilty look on his face and strangely also a creepy and satisfied grin on his face. Bring on the shivers.

"Oh, my god! Bella!" Rosalie exclaimed as she ran out of her bedroom as she struggled to put o n her robe, shock written all over her facial expressions.

I wanted to say something back to her, but all I could do was just stand there. My jaw was as close to the floor as it could get and my eyes were even wider than before, if that were even possible.

"Bella, this isn't..." Rosalie started to explain, tying up her robe.

I cut her off with a dark chuckle, having managed to find my voice again. "Don't even try to explain any of this to me right now, Rosalie!"

Rosalie ignored me and continued on anyways. "I just knew you'd react badly and I didn't want..."

There she goes assuming she knows me better than I know myself.

Once again, I cut her off mid sentence. "Who you sleep with is not any of my business," I informed her, frowning. "However, the fact that you didn't tell me about this...you of all people should know me better than that."

"Bella, please, please just..." she pleaded with me.

I shook my head. "You kept this a secret from me!" I accused her. "We aren't supposed to..." I trailed off, trying to decide how to word my current thought. "We don't keep secrets from each other!"

Reaching my hands up, I rubbed my temples to hopefully keep the headache I could feel coming on from doing so completely.

"If you knew me at all then you would've told me instead of keeping Quil a secret from me," I told her. "The fact that you kept him a secret from me says more about you than it does me."

Rosalie opened her mouth to say something back but no words came out.

"I don't know who to trust anymore!" I cried out in frustration, shaking my head in disbelief. "I just...I have to get out of here."

With that, I turned and rushed out of the apartment. I had no clue where I was going, I just knew that I had to get out of there.

* * *

I walked aimlessly around for what was probably the better part of an hour. The day just seemed to keep getting worse and worse and I didn't know what to do. Every time I turned a corner, I prepared myself for the next worst thing to happen next. But nothing happened. I guess the universe preferred to add on to my bad day when I was least expecting it. Little did I know at the time, my theory was about to have another point added to confirmed.

When I turned the corner, the one time I was not prepared for anything, I accidently bumped into someone. Thankfully, the force was minimal and neither of us ended up falling backwards on our asses. Looking up, I smiled briefly when I saw that the person I had run into had been Alice. It hadn't even dawned on me that where I was walking was Alice's preferred route for her jog. She had always been an early riser so that now explained why I hadn't seen Alice earlier when I had walked in on what I had unfortunately walked in on.

"Are you okay, Bella?" Alice asked, breaking me from my thoughts.

Shaking my head, I flashed her the fakest smile that I could currently muster up. "I'm fine," I assured her, giving her the most obvious lie of them all as my answer; it was almost like I wanted her to know I was lying and call me out on it.

A small laugh escaped me when Alice repeated that same thing to me.

"It's almost like you want me to know you're lying and call you out on it,." she said raising an eyebrow out of curiousity. "I'll bite. What's wrong with you, Bella?"

"I just..." I trailed off not sure what to say. "It's just..."

"Just what, spit it out," Alice urged me on.

I sighed and forced myself to say, "Rosalie and Quil."

Alice's eyes suddenly went wide, but not in the "are you serious way." Instead her eyes widened in the, "Oh shit! You know!" way. Unfortunately, this did not go unnoticed by me. Paired with the fact that she was biting her lip and chuckling nervously, I figured she'd already known about all of this.

"Oh my god! Alice! You fucking knew!" I exclaimed in horror, my eyes widening and my jaw dropping in shock for the second time in just an hour or so. "What the hell is up with all the fucking secrets lately?!" I asked in exasperation. "First Emmett, then Rosalie, and now you?!"

"Bella, please, it's not...I just..." Alice rambled on not being able to form a full sentence as she stuttered and mumbled uncontrollably.

A shrill shriek escaped me when it suddenly dawned on me. "That's why you threw my phone the other day when I was going to call Rosalie." I scoffed. "Her special friend was Quil and you thought I'd realize it somehow."

"I'm so sorry, Bella," Alice apologized, a hint of tears forming in her eyes. "I didn't want you and Rosalie to maybe have a falling out and then in turn you and me would have a falling out, too, and..."

I cut her off, laughing darkly at her explanation, while I clapped. "Congrats, Alice! You did such a great job because everything went just as you planned and hoped that it would," I snapped, my voice laced with sarcasm.

"Bella, please..."

"I've been hearing a lot of that today," I hissed, shaking my head before I pushed past her and stalked off, ignoring her pleas that followed after me.

Apparently, I was now able to add Alice to the list of people I couldn't trust anymore right under Jacob, Emmett, and Rosalie.

* * *

It wasn't until I was already at the boundary line that I realized where I'd even ended up. How the hell did I end up here? Well walking, duh.

" _No need to bitch at yourself now, Bella,_ " I thought to myself. " _You're probably the only one you can trust right now._ "

It was times like this that I wished that Jasper wasn't overseas in the milatary and instead was here with me. Unlike Emmett, Jasper was the one older brother who I knew, without any shadow of a doubt about it, would never do anything to hurt me. Suddenly, I felt tears form in my eyes at that realization. I wanted Jasper here, but more so I really wanted things to go back to normal with Emmett and I. It hurt so bad to know that he had betrayed me like he did. Up until earlier, I had never thought that Emmett would do what he did to me. That's what I loved the most about him. Despite being one of the toughest and scariest guys in town, I could always look up to him and trust him not to treat me like he sometimes treated others. I was his sister, but now I felt more like one of the people that he was against for whatever reason he may be.

Wiping my tears away from my face, I focused my attention back on where I was. Why did my subconscious bring me here? Of all the places that I could go (even though I couldn't think of any of those places right now) why did I end up here at the boundary line. I wanted to be away from all the people I couldn't trust. Here at the boundary line, there was a big chance of running into Jacob. He was the lowest on the list of people I couldn't trust since he didn't do as much as the other three, but he was still on the list none-the-less. Therefore, I didn't want to see him right about now either.

But again, the universe had the opposite idea than me.

"Well, well, well," the now very familiar voice said from behind me.

I whirled around and came face to face with Jacob.

His smirk immediately dropped when he noticed the look on my face.

"You've been crying," he noted, walking up to me and reaching forward.

Slapping his hand away, I hissed at him. "Don't touch me!"

A hint of rejection and hurt flashed in his eyes before his mask of danger and hate was suddenly put back up.

"I am in no mood to deal with your "act like you care, then be a lying jackass, and now back to act like you care" attitude right now," I told him, crossing my arms tightly across my chest.

A scowl took over Jacob's facial expressions. "If that is true, why are you here?" he asked, staring at me like he was trying to get a reading off of me or something.

I shrugged. "I honestly don't know," I answered him honestly. "I was just angry and walking and then next thing I knew, here I was."

"Angry about what?" Jacob asked curiously.

My mouth opened and I was about to reply when I suddenly shut it. "Oh, no. No, no, no, no. Absolutely not," I said, shaking my head. "I see what you tried to do there," I said to him accusingly. "I told you I'm not in the mood to deal with your constant switching attitudes, especially not when I can't trust you."

Jacob frowned. "You can trust me, Bella," he replied, a hint of honesty in his tone.

With everyone keeping secrets from me lately, I almost wanted to believe him a little bit. But if I couldn't even trust my own flesh and blood and my best friend who was like a sister to me, then how could I possibly trust him? Not to mention, his constant switching attitudes which didn't give me much of a reason to trust him.

I scoffed at him. "I can't even trust you to tell me the truth about having my cellphone." I shook my head and chuckled briefly. "You lied about something _that_ stupid and now you expect me to believe I can trust you not to lie about bigger and more important things."

Jacob opened his mouth to reply to what I said, but I stopped him by lifting my hand up.

"I honestly don't know who I can even trust right now!" I allowed myself to at least admit that much to him as I shook my head in disbelief again. "I need to be alone right now," I said as I turned and rushed off, praying that Jacob didn't follow me this time.

* * *

After some more walking around the city aimlessly, I finally realized where I could go to get the peace and quiet that I so badly wanted. There was a playground near by that was on the beach. Since it was as early as it was still, I knew that there wouldn't be any kids there yet. The playground truly reminded me a lot of the playground back home that I always used to run off to when I was younger and got into a fight with one of the girls or one of my brothers, usually Emmett. We were always the closest, which wasn't too much closer than me and Jasper but just enough, of me and my brothers so that often times lead to us fighting more often. This memory brought more sadness to me when I thought about the state of Emmett and I's current relationship.

Making it to the playground, I walked over to the swingset and sat down on one of the swings. I swung for a while, enjoying the wind in my hair as I pumped my legs and made the swing go higher and higher. All the while, I thought about the recent events of the day so far.

Today had to already be the worst day of my life thus far.

First, I got attacked by Mike who had unbeknownst to me come back into my life.

Second, Jacob saved me but then turned around and lied to me about something so small after making it seem like he truly cared about me.

Third, my own brother more or less revealed that he knew Mike was back in town and that he purposely didn't tell me.

Fourth, I walked in on and found out that Rosalie had kept a big secret and lied to me about it for I don't even know how long.

Fifth, I came to the realization that Alice knew about Rosalie's secret the whole time and helped Rosalie cover it up.

What the hell was going on today? Did the universe get together and collectively decide that today would be pick on Bella day? Because if so, I was not on board with it. It was only morning and I was already completely over this day. I was ready for it to be tomorrow, which would hopefully be better than today. This whole day was just way too much for me.


	20. Chapter 19 - Out in the Open

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Twilight. I only own the plot...sort of.

**~Emmett's POV~**

After watching as Bella ran away from me with tears falling down her face, I felt like the worst human being in the world. That was saying a lot when given the fact that I was a gang leader and had done some unspeakable things in my time. None of that ever made me feel as disgusting as I felt now. The look on Bella's face when I'd told her that I knew Mike had been back, it stung badly. The last thing I ever wanted was to hurt my baby sister like that.

I had to make things right between us before it got to the point of no return. If only she had come back and let me explain myself when I called after her, we could skip the unnecessary pain and heartbreak that she was sure to be going through at the moment. She always did have a tendency of running off at the most inopportune times.

Making my way back to the apartment, I hoped that she would be there. I didn't want this to go on for longer than it needed to. The sooner I found her, the sooner I could set everything straight. There was much more to this than Bella could ever figure out on her own. It was up to me to fill her in, something I should've done from the get go to prevent all of this from happening.

I made it back to the apartment in what felt like record time. The first thing I hoped to see when I opened the door was that Bella was there. The last thing I expected to find when I opened the door was what was really there. Rosalie was on the couch, curled up in a ball, and crying.

"Rosalie, what's wrong?" I asked, walking to the front of the couch.

She looked up at me and I frowned. Judging by the red color and the puffiness of her eyes, she'd been crying for some time. That wasn't normal for Rosalie to do; it was so unlike her.

"Bella," was all that Rosalie was able to get out.

My eyes widened slightly. "What about her?"

Between tears and hiccups, Rosalie managed to answer, "Mad...at...me."

I narrowed my eyes at her answer. It wasn't like Bella to get mad enough at Rosalie to cause this kind of response from Rosalie. Whatever it was had to be something big.

Now not only did Bella think I had betrayed her, she was also mad at Rosalie for something. I could only imagine what was going through her mind right now. She probably didn't think she could trust anybody at the moment. I needed to find her even more now.

"Did she say where she was going?" I asked.

Rosalie shook her head no.

"Damn," I muttered under my breath, shaking my head. "Will you be okay here on your own?"

Rosalie nodded her head after a brief hesitation.

"I'm sure Alice will be back from her run soon," I told her before turning and making my way out of the apartment.

Where could Bella be? She thought I'd betrayed her so she can't trust me. Then she got mad at Rosalie for something and probably thinks she can't trust her. She would want to be alone and at a place that always made her feel better as a kid. It suddenly dawned on me where I could find her. I broke out into an immediate sprint.

**~Bella's POV~**

I refused to look up at him as I swung back and forth on the swing, dragging my feet along the sand and leaving waterless ditches in it. One part of me hoped that if I didn't acknowledge him that he would eventually give up and leave. The other part of me knew that that one part of me was an idiot who knowingly had false hope. Emmett had his mind set on getting me to hear him out and he wouldn't rest until he accomplished his task.

I managed to hold out on ignoring him for another five to ten minutes; I wasn't really counting. As I knew fully well that he wouldn't, he never left during those five to ten minutes. At the end of whatever the time was, my anger was boiling at the surface. I had to let it out or else I didn't even know what to expect from myself if I let it go and let it stir for any longer now.

"Why are you here?" I asked, letting all of my current anger towards him be known.

Stopping in front of me and grabbing both chains of the swing to stop me from continuing to swing, Emmett answered, "We need to talk."

I chuckled as I finally allowed myself to look up at him. "I can't even look at you right now." I glared at him as I spat the words out. "So what makes you think I even want to talk to you?!"

Emmett closed his eyes and shook his head for a moment as he thought of what to say next. Opening his eyes back up, he sighed. "At least listen to me and then decide if you still don't want to talk to me or look at me after that."

I contemplated his suggestion and eventually gave in. I don't know why. After all, I had every right to not want to hear him out if I didn't want to. But I guess there was a big part of me hoped that his explanation would be a good one and make sense. I really wanted it to turn out that he hadn't betrayed me like it seemed he did. I wanted nothing more at this point than for my big brother to be back on the same side as me again.

Shrugging my shoulders, I replied, "I guess that sounds fair."

Emmett smiled briefly as he moved to sit in the swing next to me like he used to when we were kids. "Thank you for being willing to hear me out."

If he was expecting a "you're welcome" from me, then he was going to end up being disappointed because I wasn't giving him one.

When I did not offer him anything in return, Emmett started his explanation.

"I know you think I betrayed you, but I didn't," he began, causing a chuckle to escape from my throat on its own accord.

"According to my sources, Mike is not only back but he's also under your protection!" I exclaimed, looking over at him with wide eyes. "So yes, Emmett, you really did betray me!"

The expression that Emmett gave me was a surprising one. His expression was anything but a guilty one that I expected him to be wearing.

Now I was honestly confused.

Emmett shook his head and sighed before replying, "He is under the protection of the gang."

It suddenly felt as if the air was knocked right out of me. He said he had not betrayed me just to now confirm that he did betray me. Why did he not look guilty about it? This certainly wasn't the Emmett that I had grown up with and come to know. This Emmett was someone completely different.

I needed to distance myself from him immediately. Getting up from the swing, I walked over to the ocean and sat down so that the water would repeatedly wash over my feet. Hopefully it would help keep me calm throughout the rest of what Emmett was going to tell me. Although, I don't know how much worse this could get since Emmett already admitted to betraying me, which for me is the worst thing that he could ever tell me.

A scowl found its way onto my face when Emmett came and sat down next to me. The reason I came over here was to distance myself from him. Why did he have to follow me over here? Being in his presence just didn't feel the same anymore. I felt crowded and betrayed and like I couldn't breathe. This was just too much for me to handle. How could my own brother protect the same guy who tried to do unspeakable things to me time and time again?

"He's under the protection of the gang, but he is _not_ under my protection," Emmett said sincerely.

"What?" I asked, turning my head towards him and narrowing my eyes at him. "How is that possible?"

Emmett shrugged his shoulders. "For some time now, I've had the suspicion that there's a mole in the gang," Emmett admitted. "And now there are rumors going around that Mike is under the gang's protection so I know it for a fact."

Well, that explained why his expression hadn't been a guilty one.

"I've been playing along with the ruse and acting like I'm not aware of the rumors to keep the mole from getting spooked and realizing I'm onto him while I try to figure out who the mole is."

It immediately felt like I could breathe again. Knowing that Emmett actually hadn't betrayed me was such a relief. I know I was believing him pretty quickly but it all added up. This all sounded much more like the Emmett that I had come to know and love growing up.

"You ran off before I could explain everything." Emmett bumped me playfully with his shoulder. "You should learn to ask questions first and run later in certain situations. It would save you from a whole lot of unnecessary pain and heartbreak in the future."

I fake laughed and rolled my eyes at him. "Thank you, Captain Obvious."

Shrugging one shoulder, he replied, "I'm just saying."

"Ha ha."

"So I realize now that I still should've warned you about him being back." Emmett sighed, shaking his head as he returned to being serious again. "I know that you would've kept quiet and not done anything to ruin things. I just wasn't thinking straight when I first heard that he was back and that there's a mole within the gang. I just thought that..."

I sat there quietly, listening and letting him vent his feelings. He needed it more than I did right now since I was pretty much content now knowing that he hadn't betrayed me.

"I guess part of me figured that you'd be safe if you didn't know," Emmett continued. "You know the saying, "what you don't know won't hurt you." Well, that sure backfired on me, didn't it?"

I rolled my eyes inwardly. "Yeah, tell me about it," I said out loud but quiet enough that I don't think Emmett heard me.

Emmett placed his hand on my knee, breaking me from my thoughts.

I turned my head to look at him.

"You will probably never know just how truly and deeply sorry I am for my part in all of this," Emmett told me in all honesty as he gave me a sad smile.

I smiled back in a more happy fashion and replied, "I think I have an inkling of an idea of how much."

Emmett moved closer to me and wrapped an arm around my shoulder, pulling me into him. "I truly am sorry," he apologized again.

I nodded my head as a way of letting him know I heard him. "I accept your apology."

I could feel Emmett relax next to me as my words sunk in.

"You have no idea how happy and relieved I am to hear you say that," he said to me with a cheerful laugh.

His laugh was contagious because soon I was laughing with him.

"You know I can't stay mad at you for long," I reminded him. "Well, that is as long as you have a good explanation as to why I shouldn't be mad at you anymore."

After that, we sat on the beach enjoying the calming sound of the ocean and the feeling of the waves washing over our bare feet. Everything was back to normal between us and I was happy. I hated being on bad terms with my brother. It was one of the worst feelings ever.

"So what did you and Rosalie get into it about earlier?" Emmett suddenly asked, ruining my recently happy and content mood.

Now I was thinking about _that_ again.

"She kept a very big secret from me," I answered simply.

Emmett knew that Rosalie, Alice, and I didn't like to keep secrets from each other. Therefore, he knew better than to press the issue any further once I said there was a secret involved. And for that I was truly thankful.

Leaning over and wrapping his arm around my shoulder, he pulled me as close to him as I could be. I laid my head down on his shoulder and sighed contently. It was great to be on good terms with my brother again. Even a few hours on bad terms was too long. Thankfully that was over with.

~ **Unknown** **POV** ~

To say the least, the sight in front of me was a shocking one. It was certainly one of the last sights I would've ever imagined that I'd ever catch sight of. Bella being all cozy with Emmett McCarty? That changed everything. She more than likely knew who Emmett was and was on good terms with him judging by what I was witnessing. What exactly was their connection? And just how much would their connection throw everything for a loop?

If the wrong person were to ever find out about this...I could only imagine what would happen then. It wasn't the brightest idea that I ever had, but I needed to get to the bottom of this before anyone else found out about any of it. Maybe that way, I'd be able to keep the situation from getting worse than it needed to be if anyone else were to find out about Bella knowing Emmett.


End file.
